In Montreal, Kevin Magnussen commented on the collision with Sergio Perez on the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix. The Haas driver accused his opponent of not giving him enough space, although Perez could see the car in the rear-view mirrors.
Kevin Magnussen: “I don’t think Sergio is a dirty-fighting driver or anything like that, but I was surprised that he didn’t leave me any space. Obviously he just pushed me against the wall to scare me into backing off, but that’s definitely not the way we should fight in racing.
He can’t claim he hasn’t seen me. He saw me. There’s no way he didn’t see me. That’s why I kept driving with the accelerator on the floor because I trusted him and believed that he would give me space because he saw me.
He saw me and I knew he saw me. If I wasn’t confident he could see me, I would reconsider the risks as they were greater in this case. If I had any doubt as to whether Perez could see me or not, I would have withdrawn. But it was clear to me that he saw me. I trusted him and thought he would leave a space the size of a car for me. I shouldn’t have trusted him.
Anyway, it doesn’t change the fact that he didn’t leave me any space. I had to rely on my experience and know that some riders don’t leave enough space.
I’ve seen reruns of the episode many times. It often happens that you change your opinion about what happened after watching the recording from the outside, but in this case my opinion has hardly changed.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
