FIA explain why Kevin Magnussen escaped an unsportsmanlike behaviour charge in Miami

Cleared of unsportsmanlike behaviour despite his Sprint race offences meeting “exceptional circumstances” that were worthy of three penalty points, the Miami stewards explained that it wasn’t clear Kevin Magnussen’s actions had been intentionally unsporting.

Kevin Magnussen played the role of Minister of Defence during the 19-lap Miami Sprint as he kept Lewis Hamilton behind him, thus allowing his Haas team-mate Nico Hulkenberg to scamper off into the distance.

Stewards: Three penalty points for ‘exceptional circumstances’

The Dane courted controversy in the process as he went off the track several times, earning him four time penalties and later three penalty points on his Super Licence.

But while the usual guidelines for leaving the track, which was the reason for three of his penalties, involves a time penalty but “zero penalty points”, such were Magnussen’s antics while defending against Hamilton that the stewards felt it warranted exceptional circumstances.

“The points indicated [zero, ed],” read their ruling, “are intended to be the norm for a particular offence. The stewards may vary these, taking into account mitigating or aggravating circumstances. However, the authority of the stewards to increase the points assessed is intended to be used only in exceptional circumstances.

“Taking into account the fact that this was the third instance of leaving the track and gaining an advantage in a single session, which we considered to be an aggravating circumstance, we impose three penalty points.”

That put the Haas driver onto eight points, and he won’t lose any of those before 9 March 2025.

However, his punishment almost didn’t stop there with Magnussen then investigated for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

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Magnussen escapes ‘unsportsmanlike behaviour’ charge

After Hamilton spoke out against Magnussen’s antics, and it should be noted this was not the first time this season he’s used these tactics having done so in Jeddah, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella called for him to receive a race ban for “completely unacceptable” behaviour.

However, after a “lengthy hearing” that included Magnussen and Haas, the stewards decided “we do not think that the actions reached the level of unsportsmanlike behaviour.”

Explaining that “in circumstances such as this one, there must be clear evidence of an intention to behave in a manner that can be said to be unsportsmanlike as a finding of unsportsmanlike behaviour is serious”, they felt that was not the case with Magnussen telling the stewards “he thought that he was entitled to race with car 44 [Hamilton] in the manner that he did.

“He was also of the view that building a gap between himself and the cars ahead was perfectly within the regulations and it was not uncommon for a driver to seek to assist his team-mate in the course of a race by doing so.”

The stewards therefore took no further action against Magnussen, having already given him four time penalties totalling 35 seconds and four penalty points on his licence.

They would, however, like the FIA to review the situation, adding with an eye to increasing the penalty for repeat infringements to “discourage scenarios such as those that we found today.”

Kevin Magnussen admits to using ‘stupid tactics I don’t like doing’

Playing bollard to help Haas and his team-mate Hulkenberg, even Magnussen admitted that’s not how he wants to race, but that it is his job to help the team score points.

“All the penalties were well deserved,” the Dane told Sky F1. “No doubt about it. But I had to play the game again.

“I was in a very good position behind Nico there. At the beginning of the race I gained a lot positions, was up in P8 and protecting well from Lewis because I had DRS from Nico and had good pace.

“But then Nico cut the chicane and I lost the DRS [on lap six in an incident that was not investigated].

“Nico could’ve given that back to give me the DRS to protect because then we would’ve easily been P7-P8. Instead, I was really vulnerable to Lewis [and we] started fighting like crazy.”

He added: “I started using these stupid tactics, which I don’t like doing. But, at the end of the day, I did my job as a team player.

“Nico scored his points because I got that gap for him. Lewis and Tsunoda couldn’t catch him. Not the way I like to go racing, at all, but [was] what I had to do today.”

The full stewards’ ruling

Decision: No further action.

Reason: The Stewards spoke to the driver, the team representative and reviewed video evidence of Car 20 in relation to the three separate incidents where Car 20 left the track and gained a lasting advantage. Each of those infringements attracted a 10-second time penalty.

The Stewards wanted to examine the circumstances under which the second and third instances of leaving the track and gaining an advantage were done especially in the context of an on track battle with Car 44.

We were also aware of the impact that these infringements potentially had on the time gaps to the cars in front, in particular Car 20’s teammate in Car 27.

The Stewards were made aware of a media interview that the driver of Car 20 gave immediately after the session where he was quoted as saying among other things:

“I started using these stupid tactics, which I don’t like doing… But at the end of the day, I did my job as a team player…Nico scored points because I got that gap for him…”

During the hearing the driver confirmed that these comments were accurately reported.

We therefore wanted to investigate if the driver of Car 20 was deliberately flouting the regulations to gain an advantage for his team or his teammate and if so, whether such conduct would be an infringement of Article 12.2.1.L of the FIA International Sporting Code.

We had a lengthy hearing with the driver of Car 20 and the team representative to the Stewards understand their perspective on what happened.

The driver candidly explained that he thought that he was entitled to race with Car 44 in the manner that he did and also that he was willing to accept what he considered to be standard penalties that would have been imposed on him for any infringements that occurred while he was battling for position.

He was also of the view that building a gap between himself and the cars ahead was perfectly within the regulations and it was not uncommon for a driver to seek to assist his teammate in the course of a race by doing so.

He did not at any point in time think that what he was doing was wrong or that it was in any way unsportsmanlike. He highlighted that the Stewards would typically not increase the severity of the penalties for repeat offences.

We considered the matter and found as follows:
1. The standard for establishing unsportsmanlike behaviour must undoubtedly be high.
2. In circumstances such as this one, there must be clear evidence of an intention to behave in a manner that can be said to be unsportsmanlike as a finding of unsportsmanlike behaviour is serious.
3. While we disagreed with the way in which Car 20 was driven today, in particular, the repeated infringements from leaving the track, we do not think that the actions reached the level of unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Having said that, moving forward, the Stewards will need to consider if, in appropriate situations, especially in the case of repeat infringements, the penalties to be applied for each infringement need to be increased to discourage scenarios such as those that we found today. This is something that we will raise explicitly with the FIA and the Stewarding team.

We accordingly take no further action on the present summons.

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