Kevin Magnussen will serve a race ban at the upcoming Baku GP. After reaching the maximum number of penalty points in Monza, the Dane must sit out the seventeenth round of the year. He reached this limit after making contact with Pierre Gasly at turn 4. However, the Frenchman does not believe a penalty was necessary.
Gasly calls for Magnussen penalty to be reversed
The Italian GP is not usually a strong race for Alpine, whose Renault engine often proves a limiting factor. This was the case again last weekend, as the French outfit soon found themselves out of top-10 contention.
As Kevin Magnussen charged the field and climbed into the points, he went side by side with Pierre Gasly. The 31-year-old missed his breaking point and made contact with the Alpine driver.
Neither driver received any major damage, continuing their duel after Gasly returned to track on the escape road.
However, the stewards felt their incident was worthy of a penalty – judging that Magnussen was out of control in the braking zone.
Speaking to the media post-race, Gasly disagreed with the decision to penalise him:
“Someone told me he got a 10-second penalty. I’m a bit surprised for that…
“It was a bit of wheel-to-wheel, and in the end, I didn’t really lose any time. I’m a bit surprised.
“I hope they can revert on that because that would definitely be unfair. I’ll be happy to do it [speak with the stewards] – I’ll see what I can do.
“That [Magnussen’s penalty] will feel very unfair for the incident that it was.”
Despite Gasly’s best intentions, it is unlikely he can reverse the FIA’s decision. To avoid this race ban, it is Haas who will have to try to protest the penalty.
Assuming the FIA verdict stands, Oliver Bearman is expected to fill in for Magnussen in Baku. However, this needs to be confirmed in the coming days.
