Magnussen ready to “die in his car”: controversy grows and the Haas driver justifies himself
Haas driver, Kevin Magnussen, stated in an interview that he was willing to "put his life on the line" to succeed in Formula 1 before clarifying his remarks on his Twitter account to end the controversy.
The on-track behavior of Kevin Magnussen has often been criticized by his peers and F1 observers. Once again, during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the Danish driver made headlines at the end of the race by dangerously squeezing Pierre Gasly against the wall. The Toro Rosso driver even called him the “most dangerous driver” he has ever raced against.
The resident of the American team was thus given a 10-second penalty, which was added to his race time, and a deduction of 2 points from his license, leaving it with only 4 points.
But the controversy over his driving intensified with the publication in the days following the race of an interview with the main person concerned, in which he expressed his radical vision of competition: “I don’t like compromises. I would give everything. I would die in the car. I wouldn’t hold back. I would put my life on the line,” the son of Jan Magnussen notably declared before continuing: “When you put on your helmet and you’re racing, I think that’s all that matters in the world. I love my family, and there are many things in life that I enjoy, but when I’m in the car, nothing else matters. For me, when I’m in the car, the essence of life is Formula 1.”
Les images de l’incident entre Gasly et Magnussen… 🙄
GAS: “Kevin est le pilote le plus dangereux que j’ai affronté… Il m’a littéralement mis dans le mur à 300 km/h”
MAG: “J’avais tellement de vibrations que je ne voyais plus dans les rétroviseurs”
Magnussen 🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/aDwA27v6Gv
— Secteur F1 🏎 (@Secteur_F1) 30 avril 2018
An astonishing approach in the world of Formula 1, which is becoming increasingly focused on safety, as demonstrated by this year’s introduction of the controversial Halo.
But aware of the controversy his remarks had just sparked, Kevin Magnussen took to Twitter yesterday to justify himself and clarify his thoughts in three points: 1: The interview was conducted before the race in Baku and was not done with the incident with Pierre in mind during the race. I did not intentionally squeeze Pierre and apologized to him numerous times after the incident. 2: I do not want to die in a racing car. I was expressing my will to give absolutely everything in my power to achieve success. Success obviously does not mean having accidents or penalties for me, but finishing races as high as possible. 3: I am living a childhood dream by being in Formula 1, and all my life I have been striving to achieve this dream, so it is entirely natural for me to give absolutely everything I have to succeed in racing, and the day it is no longer the case, I will immediately retire.
Here, however, is something that should not improve the “bad boy” and dangerous driver image that Romain Grosjean’s teammate has forged on the track…
