Sauber boss Vasseur labels Magnussen as 'f***ing dangerous'
- Published on 09 Oct 2018 10:05
-
- By: Harry Mattocks
Sauber team boss Fred Vasseur has labelled Kevin Magnussen as 'f***ing dangerous" after he collided with Charles Leclerc in the Japanese Grand Prix. The Dane was leading Leclerc down the main straight, when Leclerc began to pull alongside.
Magnussen also moved in the same direction and the two collided, with Leclerc obtaining front wing damage and Magnussen suffering a puncture. However, when the incident was investigated, no action was taken against either driver.
When queried about the incident, Vasseur was pulling no punches about who he thought was to blame for the incident: "From my point of view it was quite obvious, but there was no further action."
"He [Magnussen] is involved in all the big crashes throughout the season, if you have a look. I'm not the referee, it's the FIA - they have to take decisions or not. The move was f***ing dangerous, he's moving always late, and one day we'll have a huge crash. When you are at 320km/h, it's more than dangerous."
Race director Charlie Whiting clarified why no further action was taken: "If you analyse it very, very carefully, what you see is two cars coming down with Kevin not moving, and then Charles catches, catches, catches, he decides to go to the right, and at exactly the same time, on the video, one frame, there’s one frame difference, then Kevin moves."
"I think it’s impossible to say that Kevin blocked him, it was just he made the decision that he was going to go right, fractionally after Charles had."
20
Replies (22)
Login to replyF1_IS_Dead
Posts: 123
Charlie Whiting... "one frame". This guy can't even count and he makes decisions based on it?
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Maybe he judged there was one frame according to him? I dont have the same footage as he do, so for all we know he could be right based on his footage. BTW: care for buying a tinfoil hat?
F1_IS_Dead
Posts: 123
"so for all we know he could be right based on his footage"
Your statement is comical. Go educate yourself before writing a comment. The FIA has the original footage. It is not a 2 fps slide show.
And "BTW" - your childish "tinfoil hat" comments are embarrassing. It tells me everything about you what I need to know.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
And your reply tell me just as much, my dear. :)
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
His aggressiveness on track keeps him from being more than good.
websurfer
Posts: 52
IMO his aggressiveness on track makes him a real good old school racer worth watching. And that's not ONLY because I am danish. :)
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I dont have such prejudice. Im a Swede, yet Im not an Ericsson fan. :) I dont mind some degree of aggressiveness, dont get me wrong, I like seeing Senna swoosh over the track, but IMO, KMag goes beyond that. He could be very good, yet the raw amount of incidents limit him, and I'd probably enjoy him way more if he were borderline aggressive than just straight up. Then again, Im a fan of those boring gentlemen drivers like Button, so its probably down to taste. :)
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
He is not going anywhere beyond Haas, as long as he drives like a Maldonado.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
I call BS on Magnussen being "real good old school." There are plenty of drivers who are hard racers, but not reckless. Magnussen is involved in a disproportionate amount of incidents that usually harm not only his competition but himself. No... he's more Maldonado than "real good old school." I know what people are trying to say by that, but Magnussen isn't it. I couldn't agree more with the statement that Magnussen is perpetually "almost great" because of his stupid antics.
blade
Posts: 341
F1 is a tough sport and should be for tough guys. I happen to agree with Whiting on this one (though not always....) - Magnussen is carrying a label of a warrior - and that's hard earned and ultimately will win him more points than being a softy. What do we want - boring, "after you" merchants of real men fighting unstable cars in tough conditions. I know what I want. I have an image of premier league football players - you only have to look at them and they go down injured terribly - pathetic - I really don't want anymore pansies on the grid - I want to see gladiators - and I doubt I am alone in thinking this. Magnussen has committed a crime anywhere near as bad as Senna or Prost in their titanic battles - Vasseur is over the top.
F1_IS_Dead
Posts: 123
There is hard racing and there is dirty driving. Magnussen is not a warrior, he is a driver who uses dirty tactics. If he was a MMA fighter, he would probably poke other rivals with his finger in the eye. Would this make him an even bigger warrior? No, he would be called a dirty fighter. Other fighters would disrespect him.
You want to see a warrior, look at Sirotkin's drive two races ago. Defending hard but fair with a very slow and broken car. Of course he got a penalty because he didn't made the slow corner and pushed Hartley wide. Very dangerous!!! Instant penalty.
F1 is supposed to be a sport. Everyone wants to see exciting, hard but FAIR racing.
xoya
Posts: 583
@F1_is_dead
I totally agree with you. :)
BrunoB
Posts: 9
Magnussen is one of the few F1 drivers who are not boring to watch.
Conserning the discussion here then the stewards checked the timespan between Magnussens move and Leclerces attack - and concluded that because it was actually at the same time (= less than 10-20ms) it was not a reaction but a legal defensive move.
The stewards also concluded that Magnussen did only move 1 time(one) - and not like Verstappen has done several times zigzagging 2-3 times - as a reactive defensive move..
So much for the clever boys who repeat retiree Alonzos BS that ALL F1 drivers hate Magnussen because he is sooo unsportsman like.
And bytheway check Magnussens individual rating if you think he should have no place in modern F1.
You dont earn this rating if your only skill is to make your car "too" wide.
Or to tell other drivers to "suck your balls" :-)
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
I must agree that, he is a lively personality who is more suitable for TV programs like "Bachelor" , "Big boss". But, not necessarily for F1.
blade
Posts: 341
Yep - entirely agree - I don't think he is crazy, if he was he'd have been picking up a load of points on the super licence, I don't think he has that many.
In response to F1-Is-Dead - I disagree, this is the pinnacle of motorsport, it is no place for whingers and push-overs - don't whine, get off your arse and fight - the better man will win. F1 is becoming far too anodyne, to sterilised - the sport needs the extremes. I don't agree he is particularly dirty, he is not unfair - he is on the limit. Let the F1 stewards judge - for the rest of us it's all about watching the spectacle. Forza Mag.
F1_IS_Dead
Posts: 123
BLADE - there is nothing more boring, than drivers cruising and letting everyone pass. I totally agree with it, but it has to happen within the "rules". Not the strange FIA rules, but the "ethical racing rules". It's all about skill and fairness. It is possible to combine both and deliver excellent racing.
As for Magnussen - I don't like his maneuvers, but I like his (off track) personality. He speaks his mind which is not common these days. I'm also happy for him, if he gets good results. I only have a problem, when he pulls off one of his moves... For me it's a big minus.
Jutlandia
Posts: 191
I have a feeling that this article is old, meaning that this is Vasseur comments from sunday.
When he was KMAG's boss back in the Renault days, it was the other way around, right?
And his comments about KMAG has been involved in all the big crashes over the season.
I really try to think back, and i can not recall witch crashes he is talking about.
Can anybody help me?
websurfer
Posts: 52
I don,t recall many, most of this stuff is about defensive racing. Not many crashed involved, actually.
Vasseur: "He [Magnussen] is involved in all the big crashes throughout the season, if you have a look." That's simply b....sh.t
Lotus4Ever
Posts: 26
Hmm...Vasseur is defending his driver(s) and Steiner is doing the same for his drivers....Vasseur seems a little bit like an sour old man.....
I would not call KMag´s driving dangerous in general, he is agressive, and I like that.
If you call him dangerous - what about Verstappen or Grosjean? He is more dangerous IMO.
Take a look at this "Penalty Points chart for 2018,and tell me what your findings are:
f1.wikia.com/wiki/Penalty_points
BrunoB
Posts: 9
@Lotus4
Penalty Points chart for 2018
Hahaha good point Lotus4 :-)
Problem is just that people who believe the media BS that Magnussen is hated by all other drivers because he is sooo dangerous - are not able to interpret such a list!
Facts dont mean a thing if you allready have made up your mind:-)
humbleridderen
Posts: 3
He is actually a pretty clean racer. Only 3 points on the license. Many of the complaints haven't been because of a crash, but only other drivers that has problems to pass him and try some pretty optimistic moves on him and couldn't get through. Its just because he is good they cant pass, and then they get annoyed and complain on the radio and to the medias..its a bit silly. I dont say he is not making mistakes, but he is far from a dirty racer. He is just a hard racer that knows how to defend and also pass by the way. So instead of listening to all the whiners, take the battle on the track and not in the medias or radio or even in the court as Renault did on Grosjeans car, which took 6 points away from Grosjean that he should have had. (Renault was right about their complaint, but they broke a gentlemans agreement about not complaining about small insignificant things after the race)
BrunoB
Posts: 9
Just to introduce some more entertaining material into this selfduplicating pro/against Kevin Magnussen monologues then check this link to Kevins father Jan Magnussen who are made of the same no-BS material as Kevin.
Its a video of one of the most epic racing battles on Laguna Seca in GT races.
I can say that because some of my american friends in the NR2003 FSB league living a few miles from Laguna Seca praised the older Magnussen as exactly a no-BS driver.
Epic GT2 Battle at LAGUNA SECA #3 J.Magnussen ~VS~ J.Bergmeister #45
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjPIQUNQ0U8