There was a magical moment at this year’s Miami Grand Prix which saw Lando Norris take his first victory in 110 F1 race starts. Martin Brundle described the reception for the British driver as unprecedented and he likened it to that received by Ayrton Senna when he won his home race in Brazil back in 1991.

A first time F1 winner is always a good occasion but Miami 2024 will also be remembered for ‘darker’ goings on, something McLaren’s Oscar Piastri believes needs stamping out of the sport.

 

 

 

McLaren drivers’ weekend “chalk and cheese”

McLaren’s weekend was chalk and cheese for their two drivers, with Norris claiming his maiden victory, while Oscar Piastri skulked home down in P13. The Aussie driver had been running as high as fourth place when battling Carlos Sainz, lost his front wing, which compromised his result.

Sainz was given a five second penalty for his part in the collision which dropped him from fourth to fifth.

“I realised it was time to be aggressive because everyone was being aggressive today,” Sainz said before his penalty was announced. “And if I needed to get a move on Oscar, you could see that we were struggling on the straights, this meant that I needed to send one down the inside. I did it.

“And good pace towards the end, catching the guys in front, Max and Charles, but it was too late. I lost much time with Oscar.”

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Magnussen chinnanagins 

Yet it is another driver who is in the sights of Oscar Piastri who wants the FIA to clamp down on a certain kind of behaviour. The McLaren driver has called on the FIA to act following the behaviour of Kevin Magnussen during the Sprint race in Florida.

Magnussen was battling Hamilton for the last points paying position when he made a mistake on the approach to the chicane. His faulty line meat he was forced to cut the corner for which he was duly given one of this year’s new 10 second penalties.

The Dane did not previously receive a warning over track limits and the harsh penalty changed the course of his race and others. At most circuits the drivers are given a three strikes and you’re out to track limit violations, but in Miami the race director re wrote the rules.

With no pits stops in the 1/3rd GP distance Sprint, Magnussen’s penalty in effect ended his race. K-Mag then decided his best contribution to the Haas team effort would be to solidify his team mates position up ahead.

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Hamilton eventually makes it by

As he did in Jeddah, Magnussen was very slow through the turns creating a trap of cars behind him, but the 2024 Haas has a neat turn of pace on the straights which he used to great effect. 

Finally Lewis Hamilton made the move on K-Mag, but the Danish driver took matters into his own hands and reposed the British driver but from outside track limits.

Hamilton even lost a place to Yuki Tsunoda who benefited from a near miss between the Mercedes and the Haas – so the Japanese driver pounced picking up two places in one corner.

In total Magnussen received three 10 second penalties and another of 5 seconds all for driving misdemeanours from the Miami stewards. Kevin was candid in the media pen following the chequered flag, admitting he deserved each of the penalties, something Lewis Hamilton who had suffered from the driving antics of the Dane described as a “cool” attitude.

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Piastri calls for tougher FIA action

Yet Oscar Piastri saw things very differently complaining to Speedweek: “I saw that after the Sprint he said that he deserved all the penalties he received. I think the fact that a driver who has received these penalties says he deserves them but still chose this path is not a good precedent.

“It’s one thing to get penalties and say it was 50:50 or I was treated badly. But to get so many penalties and say, ‘Yes, I deserve them all’, that sets a risky precedent that probably should be monitored a little more closely.

“I think we have to be tougher about this. It’s not the first time it’s happened and the driver who did it admits he did it for the team. For me, that’s wrong.”

Hamilton eventually passed Magnussen and set off chasing down his team mate Nico Hülkenberg. Yet the job done by Magnussen in holding up the trailing field, saw the German safely home for two points in seventh position.

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Magnussen now on the precipice 

For his transgressions, Magnussen received penalties in both Sprint and Grand Prix races and now he sits on ten points on his super license – 12 being a race ban.

All of Kevin’s penalty points have come this season too, meaning they will only begin falling away in March 2025. Magnussen’s other penalties were awarded for him hitting Alex Albon in Saudi Arabia and for causing a collision with Tsunoda at the Chinese Grand Prix.for entering the pits and not changing tyres behind the safety car.

Piastri is right in that Magnussen in a similar situation in Jeddah this year received a ten second penalty which effectively ended his hopes of points. Kevin then drove as slowly as possible holding up those behind to give his team mate points at the chequered flag.

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FIA penalty points system works

However, as TJ13 has observed previously, it is the increase in penalty from five to ten seconds which is proving problematic. Once a driver’s task becomes hopeless, then they start acting in ways which they wound’t ordinarily consider now the know their day is run.

Further, the Sprint races can at times be processional, but the Magnussen/Hamilton battle for the last point continuing for lap after lap was captivating.

So the stricter points system together with no three strikes and you’re out track violation rule, combined to create the thrilling action on track between Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton. Further, the FIA penalty points system will now kick in and will modify this kind of thing from Kevin for the remainder of the season.

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SHOCKING F1 ticket price hikes as Liberty explain business model

Formula One was born and bred in Europe when in 1950 a collection of Grand Prize races were aggregated into a formal calendar and a championship for the first time. That inaugural season there were seven rounds all of which were in Europe with the exception of the Indianapolis 500 held at the end of May.

There were 57 different drivers who competed in the championship that year and a total of 30 teams who contested the title, including a number of one car/driver privateers outfits. The drivers for the works Alfa Romeo team were dominant with their supercharged 158 which was an evolution of the successful pre-war 1938 car…. READ MORE