Kevin Magnussen blamed Sergio Perez for the collision between the pair which caused the Monaco Grand Prix to be red-flagged on the first lap.
Both drivers retired in the huge crash which followed, along with Magnussen’s team mate Nico Hulkenberg.
Magnussen said Perez should have left him more room as the Haas driver tried to draw alongside him in the winding climb from Sainte Devote to Massenet at the start.
“In my point of view I was there and I got squeezed to the wall,” he told Sky.
“From my point of view I had a good part of my front along Perez’s rear,” he explained. “When he went to the wall, I just got pushed into the wall and made contact with him.”
Magnussen believes Perez should have left him more room at the start.
“I trusted that he was going to leave a space for me since I was there,” he said. “It’s not a corner that you’re braking into. It’s just like a little bend on the straight so you have to have a car width otherwise you leave the guy no option.
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“It’s unfortunate, it’s a lot of cost to the team, a lot of work for the guys and a missed opportunity today of course.”
Hulkenberg said he was “gutted to be out after 500 metres.”
“It’s obviously far from ideal and also both cars out. Obviously I got taken off by an incident that I wasn’t directly involved in.”
He suggested his team mate should have backed out of the move, but stopped short of blaming him for the collision.
“It’s quite narrow here going up to turn three. A big shame. Things were getting too tight there.
“I think it’s somewhat a racing incident. It looked maybe a bit optimistic from Kevin, but I don’t know, Checo could have also maybe seen him and left room. So unfortunate, obviously, the outcome.”
The Haas driver said the damage to their cars was not as significant as Perez’s. “My car didn’t have too much damage,” he said. “I didn’t see Kevin’s.
“But the Red Bull had significant damage. I think that’s a write off. On our side, I don’t know. We’ll see the damage once the cars are back.”
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2024 Monaco Grand Prix
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