Palmer points to Hamilton damage after Magnussen’s forced pit stop

Jolyon Palmer believes the FIA are clamping down on damaged cars on track more, citing the example of Lewis Hamilton at the 2021 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.

Magnussen picked up some front wing damage while battling Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap in Montreal, with his right-side endplate flapping about following the contact between the two cars.

Esteban Ocon, following behind in his Alpine, radioed in to his engineer to complain about the danger of the endplate falling off and hitting him, with the black and orange flag being shown to Magnussen shortly after. This flag is an instruction from Race Control to come in and repair the damage.

Magnussen did so on Lap 7, falling to the very back of the field as a result of the timing of the forced stop. His afternoon was ruined from there, with the Danish driver coming home in 17th place at the chequered flag.

Magnussen was particularly annoyed by the enforced stop, feeling that the damage had in no way been dangerous or compromising to his own pace.

Palmer, analysing the race for F1TV, said Magnussen’s damage was no worse than what Lewis Hamilton picked up after striking the back of Max Verstappen‘s Red Bull in Jeddah last season – a race that Hamilton won and was crucial to keep the title fight alive.

“The big one that we saw, just about 10 races ago now, was when Hamilton hit the back of Verstappen in Jedda,” he said.

“Now Lewis didn’t have to pit and didn’t get a black and orange flag for damage that looked pretty similar to Magnussen in the Haas this year.

“The damage was very similar, and Hamilton crucially didn’t have to pit to sort that out, he could stay on and win the race.

“It could have been so different if Hamilton had to pit to sort that out. So maybe [it’s] the FIA just tightening that up. It’s a safety issue, a potential safety issue, in calling Magnussen into the pits.”

With the FIA making root-and-branch changes across race governance over the winter, in light of the fallout from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Palmer suspects it’s another area the governing body are clamping down to ensure the letter of the regulations is followed.

“Maybe we’re going to see more drivers get these black and orange flags because now, twice in a row, with Yuki Tsunoda’s rear wing in Baku and Magnussen’s front wing in Montreal, it’s derailed their entire Grand Prix for a little bit of damage,” he said.

“On one hand, you’d say ‘OK, fair enough’. That maybe…