Two Kevin Magnussen tricks emerge as drivers identify ‘dangerous’ tactics

Kevin Magnussen played rear gunner for Nico Hulkenberg again at Zandvoort, leading to a moment of chaos on Lap 40.

Magnussen started from the pitlane at Zandvoort following Haas changing components on his car overnight after qualifying, with the Danish driver going to battle to help his teammate out once again.

Kevin Magnussen aims to help Nico Hulkenberg

Having started from the back of the pack and having a minor off at the start, Magnussen had worked his way up to 10th place by Lap 40 as he ran a long first stint on the hard tyres while others pitted.

With Nico Hulkenberg running ahead of him in ninth place, Magnussen was caught up by Williams ‘ Alex Albon, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, and the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll – all of whom swarmed around behind him as the Haas driver slowed the pace to try buying Hulkenberg some more time ahead.

It’s a tactic he’s done – to great success – at other races this season as seen in Saudi Arabia and Miami, but it wasn’t to be on this occasion as Hulkenberg was caught and passed by Gasly and Alonso by the chequered flag.

But Magnussen’s obstructive driving was highlighted by some of his rivals following the race, with Alex Albon telling media, including PlanetF1.com , that he believes the tactic is something of a gray area.

“It stems from… a little bit like Jeddah, playing the team game,” Albon said, having denounced the five-car battle through the banked final corner and down the main straight as being “dangerous” over team radio.

“Kevin’s an unbelievable team player, and I give him full credit for it.

“I don’t think it gets policed that well and there’s a bit of a gray area between what is correct in backing up a group of cars. In this case, for me, it was fairly marginal. There were some really quick corners, Turns 7 and 8, the final corner, he was braking in the middle of them.

“So you turn in flat and then, suddenly, you have to stand the brakes and avoid it. That’s, I think, crossing the line a little bit, but it’s gray.”

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Asked whether he believes the grey area needs to be cleared up before a crash occurs as a result of defensive driving, Albon said he was happy to wait and see as he understood the position taken by Magnussen and Haas.

“I think part of the issue is that it’s not policed really that often,” he said.

“I had the same situation in Monaco with Yuki [Tsunoda] during the race, and I was complaining, but they felt it was okay. The problem is, at one point, there’s gonna be a crash.

“It all just stems from the lower field teams, where we’re fighting for a point – that P10, and P9 is so valuable to us.

“It’s very normal. Every team does it now – one driver has to play the sacrificial lamb in the race and that’s just what it is.

“That’s what a lot of the racing has come to now.

“If the point system was a bit different and everyone had a bit more, there’s a bit more range, I don’t think this kind of stuff would happen, but that’s the game.”

Pierre Gasly: It was clear what Kevin Magnussen was doing

Gasly, who went on to score points after getting past Magnussen and, metres later, passing Albon around the outside of Tarzan, said he could see the deliberately slowing tactics Magnussen was employing in his bid to help Hulkenberg get further up the road.

“I’ve never seen someone lifting in Turn 14, so, yeah, or pulling first gear in Turn 12,” he said.

“So yeah, I think Alex got very close to him. He locked up mid-corner at Turn 12 when Magnussen was downshifting in first when you should be almost full throttle.

“Then, yeah, in [Turn] 14, I opened the DRS, and, all of a sudden, I don’t know what he was doing on the inside.

“It was quite clear what he was trying to do for Nico. In the end, I managed to get out on top of that group but, at the time, I think my heartbeat was quite high, but I’m happy I managed to get out of there leading the pack.”

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