Hamilton praises 'honest' Magnussen after fiery battle

Lewis Hamilton was quick to praise Kevin Magnussen's honesty after the Miami Grand Prix sprint, where the duo jostled for position throughout in an entertaining battle.

Starting from P12, Hamilton had considerable work to do in pursuit of a point at the Miami International Autodrome, which included the intense fight with Magnussen.

It took Hamilton until the latter stages of the 100km race to find a way past the Danish driver, who did force the Mercedes star off the circuit at one point.

Remarkably, Magnussen amassed 35 seconds worth of penalties whilst fighting Hamilton, which he described himself as "well-deserved".

When Hamilton was informed of Magnussen's brutal honesty at being penalised, the seven-time world champion was full of praise and was actually upbeat after their enjoyable scrap.

"I think that's pretty honest of him and pretty cool," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

"We had a good race, it was a little on the edge in some places. That's what I love, I love racing hard.

"And for me, I wasn't really frustrated or anything, that's what you do to work as a team."

Hamilton penalty

Hamilton provisionally finished the second sprint race of 2024 in eighth, although he was on the receiving end of a post-race drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit-lane.

Mercedes' departing icon went 10.7 km/h over the pit-lane speed limit during a safety car period in the opening laps, which went through the pit-lane due to debris scattered across the opening corner.

The penalty was converted into a 20-second time penalty, demoting the 39-year-old to P16.

"Car 44 exceeded the pit-lane speed limit which is set at 80 km/h for this event by 10.7 km/h," stated the stewards.

"Per the Penalty Guidelines, the penalty for speeding in the pit-lane during a sprint session race by between 6-15km/h is a drive through. This is what we impose.

"As the drive through penalty was imposed during the last three laps, it will be converted to a 20 second time penalty per Article 54.3 (d) of the Formula One Sporting Regulations."

Interestingly, Hamilton was somewhat at fault for the safety car being required, as it was him who kickstarted a chain reaction of incidents which ended in Fernando Alonso hitting team-mate Lance Stroll into Lando Norris, when then went spinning

Hamilton was hot into the first corner and made contact with Lance Stroll who then made contact with Alonso. Alonso tagging Norris is what followed.