Kevin Magnussen has defended his ultra-aggressive approach in battles, claiming there is very little choice in Formula 1’s midfield.
The Dane has been heavily criticised by his rivals in recent years in the wake of several dangerous on-track clashes, notably with Pierre Gasly in Baku and Charles Leclerc at Suzuka in 2018.
A contentious duel with Nico Hulkenberg in Hungary the year before also led to the infamous “suck my balls” quote when the German confronted Magnussen post-race.
And commenting on his ‘bad boy’ reputation, the Haas driver admits he’s no angel but…
“There are certainly some drivers who have had some issues with it and complained about it and I’m the first to admit that I have overstepped the line at some points,” he told Formula1.com.
“But I don’t think I’m the only one who’s done that.”
It is true that the newer generation of drivers are also pretty uncompromising on track, notably a certain Dutchman.
Magnussen though also says the level of competition behind the top three teams, means the drivers have to fight for each place like their lives depended on it.
“The thing is, the last few years, I’ve been battling right in the midfield and often in the midfield, if you’re in P10 and you’re getting caught from behind from P11 or the other way round… there’s that one point to gain… and there’s not really a lot to lose,” he said.
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“I’ve had had very tough battles for P10. Some of them were over the limit.
“The way I see it is: You’ve got to take it to the limit, not over the limit, for sure, but you’ve got to take it to the limit with your driving style.
“You have to not take it over the line but to the line, but sometimes that can be hard to find. Certainly, it’s better to take it under not over.”
