what it’s like to race under the threat of an F1 ban

Under F1’s penalty points system – introduced in 2014 – some of the rivals have approached the threshold of 12 points and the threat of being suspended with one race: Daniil Kvyat in 2017, Lewis Hamilton in 2020 and Pierre Gasly last year. But the time they were close to the limit lasted only a few months in each case.

Let’s go back 27 years, when Jacques Villeneuve had to compete in nine races with a suspended race ban sentence for the 1997 Italian Grand Prix, where he had driven too fast under yellow flags in the pre-race warm-up. The suspended sanction means that if something similar happens again, that penalty is applied.

Indeed, it was a nine-month ban given the different length of the calendar at the time, but Williams’ decision to withdraw its appeal over its Japanese GP ban three races later meant that it lost that result and the risk disappeared. .

Kevin Magnussen has 11 months ahead of him, assuming the 2025 season begins, as his contract with Haas F1 Team ends this year.

That’s 17 races in total in 2024, where even a minor incident like Sargeant’s at the Chinese GP – accidentally overtaking under the safety car at the pit exit – could trigger the ban.

Magnussen first faced that threat last weekend at Imola.

“I didn’t think about it,” he responds in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com. “I have to keep pushing, otherwise I’ll spend the next 20 races hanging around. I’m not going to do that. It doesn’t make sense either.”

Magnussen refers to how he has already stated his case and questions how he ended up in that position. The talk is in the Haas motorhome after the rain at the Monte Carlo circuit on Thursday afternoon. The Dane, as always, is immaculate. And also eloquent.

“If you compare it to the way I raced with Lewis in Miami, it was as hard as I can race with anyone,” he says when asked if the feeling that he had slowed down his rivals more in Imola was felt to him in the same way. car. In fact, he came within 12 points for overdoing his position defense in the Miami sprint against Hamilton to try to protect teammate Nico Hulkenberg’s position.

Magnussen acknowledges that Haas didn’t ask him to do that in Miami, but he did do it in a similar situation in Jeddah at the start of the season. And it has been learned that this caused tensions within the American team.

“I think you understand the reasons and the dynamics there,” he adds. “And then at Imola it seemed possible that I could catch those drivers and get points, so I didn’t have to go crazy there.”

“It’s not a fault of mine. I try and I weigh the pros and cons and I do it when it makes sense and I don’t do it when it doesn’t. At least I try.”

In 15 minutes in Monaco, Magnussen seems both contrite and defiant in the face of his long dilemma.

The saga began with his driving against Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon in that round of Jeddah – about the crash with Albon that earned him three points he says that “nothing happened” – and increased dramatically in risk with the crashes with Hamilton and Sargeant in Miami earlier this month.

“There have been a couple of situations this year where even though I wasn’t in the points, it was still worth fighting for because as a team we were still in contention for points and my track position had an effect on how we were going to do it. score points in those races,” he explains.

“So it’s hard to say that I regret anything I did… I don’t love playing this game, but at the same time I always try to respect the rules. Even when I’ve tried to fight very hard with some rivals and I’ve surpassed the limit and I have received a penalty. So I accept the sanction.

“The question has been raised about whether the rules are correct, something I completely agree with and have given my ideas on how to improve them. I see that there is a problem with the rules, but I did not make them. Don’t hate the one who plays with them, you know?

As he did at Imola, Magnussen suggested that F1 stewards should adopt the “let them run” approach he saw when he raced in IndyCar in 2021 and 2022 and in IMSA. He also questions the relevance of the 2024 update to F1’s competition guidelines.

Those guidelines have become much more extensive and complex this season. In the particular case of drivers attempting overtakes on the outside – such as Magnussen against Sargeant in Miami – the consideration that the attacking driver must be able to remain within the track limits at all times obviously requires the defender to be especially cooperative.

In this sense, Magnussen believes that “they have put those things in the rules that mean that if you allow the pilot on the outside to turn towards you if the previous steps, leading up to that, are a certain way, then he can turn towards you and the guy inside will get a penalty.”

“Where is the common sense? Where is the instinct? Why do we need all these rules? “Just let us run and let us use our instincts, we all want to finish the race, we all want to be sensible.”

Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1 Team

But, having reached this point with so much controversy, in some ways Magnussen also feels better about it. This, he hopes, could mean he will complete his historic run in F1 without missing a race.

“In some of the conversations with the FIA, I also understand them better,” he concludes. “I still don’t like the way the rules are. But it’s also something where they try to do their best.”

“I think in this process I’ve also learned something. I think with some things they’ve taken a different stance, they’ve explained some things to me, which means I can probably avoid this better than before.”

“But I could still end up in a situation where if I do something by accident, then I will be penalized.”