RB accused Kevin Magnussen of “unsportsmanlike” tactics in today’s race and intend to take the matter up with the FIA.
The team believe Magnussen deliberately went off the track to maintain his position ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and others, then held up a train of cars to help his team mate.
Magnussen was given a 10-second penalty for going off the track and gaining an advantage. He also collected the same penalty again for colliding with Alexander Albon.
RB say that prompted Haas to interfere with Tsunoda’s race. “Yuki was fighting for what could have been a P10 finish,” said team principal Laurent Mekies. “He was then passed by Magnussen, who cut the track to do so and then slowed down the whole pack to let his team mate open a gap to pit in front of all of us.
“It made the penalty imposed on Magnussen meaningless, as it destroyed Yuki’s race.”
The team’s racing director Alan Permane said Haas’ tactics were “a little difficult to take” and RB want the FIA to ensure they are not repeated.
“Magnussen drove off the track to deliberately put himself in front of Yuki and then slowed him down by up to two seconds a lap, which allowed Hulkenberg, who hadn’t stopped yet, to create a gap and of course pit in front of all the cars behind,” he said.
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“That, to me, doesn’t seem correct and is the very definition of unsportsmanlike behaviour. I’m sure we and other teams will talk to the FIA about it for future races.”
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu praised the tactics, which helped Hulkenberg score their first point of the season.
“Today was an amazing team effort and I’m so happy that it was from great teamwork,” he said. “We were fighting for P10 – one point – but against eight other drivers, so everything had to be perfect to take the opportunity.
“Today, Kevin got two penalties, but once we realised he was out of points contention, we made a great call and Kev drove fantastically to hold those guys back while setting a target lap time, and Nico drove faultlessly. It was a huge team effort, congratulations to everyone.”
Alexander Albon, another of the drivers who was caught behind Magnussen, said “Haas did a great job with strategy using Kevin to hold up the group, which was very smart.”
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