Kevin Magnussen says the FIA’s current penalty points system is “punishing ridiculous things” in Formula 1, which led to his ban and means “it’s not the sport I love” anymore.
The Haas driver is returning to action in this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix after being forced to miss last weekend’s event in Baku after hitting F1’s 12-point threshold on racing licences following an incident at the previous round at Monza.
Magnussen had been on the verge of a ban ever since he accumulated 10 points across six races in 2024’s initial phase, but his final pre-suspension incident caused controversy due to its mild nature of an overtake going slightly wrong, Alpine‘s Pierre Gasly (who Magnussen hit) sticking up for him and because the Dane became the first driver to ever be banned under the current system.
In Baku, several of his F1 colleagues argued for the system to therefore be altered, which was relayed to Magnussen as he faced the media in Singapore on Thursday.
“I haven’t seen what’s been said but it’s nice if that’s the case,” he replied. “My own opinion is that it’s not a great situation for F1 to restrict racing in that way. It feels bad when the sport you love so much changes in a way you don’t appreciate.
“I’m certainly one that… I like hard racing and I think that’s a big part of the beauty of motorsport – the battles and [being] on the limit and slightly over.
“That balance is what makes or breaks your race and at the moment it feels like they’re punishing ridiculous things.
Magnussen sampled IndyCar in 2021 and favours that series’ approach
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
“Personally, as a Formula 1 fan, I’d like to see the sport open up again and just allowing the great racing that can be seen on track.”
When asked what approach he would implement instead – with the FIA understood to be beginning the process that could lead to its current penalty points system being reviewed and then altered at 2024’s end – Magnussen again suggested F1 should be looking to emulate IndyCar when it comes to policing racing.
“I’ve raced in IndyCar,” Magnussen said of one outing in the series in 2021. “I’ve watched the races on television, and I think they have it [right] going over there.
“They have fantastic racing. The drivers are respectful to each other. They’re left with that responsibility in their hands, and I think that works.
“It has to be tough and these cars are put on track with the knowledge that they might get damaged.
“And, if they do, then the driver that damages his car, he gets penalised naturally. And I think the only thing that is different in Formula 1 to IndyCar are the tracks.
“The tracks are not great for racing. With all this track-limit stuff, I got all my penalty points pretty much for track limits at the end of the day.
“I think that’s kind of stupid to be a few centimetres out of a wide line and end up with a race ban because of that. It’s not the sport I love.”
Magnussen also said he could “feel the FIA kind of seeing… I feel like they know it’s not the right way at the moment”.
“Hopefully they will open up and realise that they need to trust the drivers,” he added. “Of course there are things that you have to clamp down on. There are things like moving under braking and reacting to movement.
“There are dangerous things that you should clamp down on. But apart from the little things, just let it go.”
Now he is returning to racing on zero penalty points, Magnussen joked about how he has been “punished and then you come back and you’re like, ‘oh, ready to f**k shit up now!'”
