F1 champion makes race ban plea for ‘dangerous and ridiculous’ Magnussen

1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has lashed out at Kevin Magnussen following his crash on the opening lap of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Magnussen was involved in an incident with Sergio Perez that eliminated both drivers from the race, as well as Magnussen's Haas team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.

The Danish driver pinned the blame on Perez, while the Red Bull driver insisted that Magnussen should have backed off to avoid contact. 

Magnussen escaped a penalty for the incident, which likely would have resulted in a race ban with his penalty point tally resting at 10 prior to the crash (any driver that receives 12 penalty points in 12 months is automatically handed a race ban).

Villeneuve insisted that Magnussen should have conceded to Perez and questioned his post-crash response.

“If you want to go side by side you have to be side by side, not your front wing near the rear wheels,” he told Best Online Poker sites. “What is that all about?

“The fact is, Magnussen did not get out of the car and say, ’Oops sorry, I completely messed up.‘ Instead, he suggested it should have been the other way.

“Excuse me? What planet are we living on? The utter lack of comprehension on Magnussen’s part befuddles me. We are in F1 here, not Formula 4 where a 15-year-old might not have that understanding yet.”

'Why have the rule in place?'

Villeneuve also took issue with Magnussen avoiding punishment for the incident and called out the utilisation of F1's penalty point system.

“The fact he was not even penalised shows that the system is not neutral,” he said.

“If he had been penalised he would have been banned for one race. They decided not to. Why have the rule in place?

“It was massive. It was dangerous. It was ridiculous. And he was 17th and 18th or something. He was not even going for the lead. Come on. First lap and you cannot even judge that. It is mad.

“It took the team to get angry for him to apologise and that was on social media.

“Not even through the press. He was full of excuses, it's racing, the adrenaline. He was trying to find excuses when there weren’t any. No valid explanation.

“If he had just said: ‘I really messed up and went over the top’ that would have been easy.”