Kevin Magnussen admits that he has changed his view on his first-lap collision with Lewis Hamilton at the Spanish Grand Prix, which caused a puncture on both cars and dropped both drivers to the back of the pack. The pair had been running near the front as Magnussen attempted to go side-by-side with Hamilton on the outside of Turn 4’s fast right-hander. Immediately after the incident, an angry Magnussen vented his frustration over team radio saying: "He knew what he was doing there!" Neither driver was penalised, with stewards putting it down as a racing incident.
Magnussen changes opinion on incident
Now that Magnussen has been able to have a closer look at what happened, he has altered his opinion. "I had a chance to look at it and changed my view," said Magnussen when speaking to members of the media, including RacingNews365.com . "I had a feeling when I was on the track that he opened the steering and that’s not what happened. He got in the slipstream of the Ferrari and understeered a tiny bit. "I was super close to him, I didn't give him much room for any margin so we touched, unfortunately. "I wish I had turned in one millisecond later. In a corner like that, if you’re going to go around the outside you want to be as close to him as possible. "There was also a lot of bad luck; if I had just been a little bit further forward when we hit, we would have hit the rim and it would have been different.”
Contrasting finishes for both drivers
A downcast Hamilton appeared to consider an early retirement from the race after the clash, having suggested that his team "save the engine", but was urged to continue with a predicted points finish on the cards. It was the right decision. Hamilton produced one of his greatest comebacks in his more-competitive Mercedes to finish fifth, but could have been a place higher were it not for cooling problems on the W13 in the latter stages of the race. Meanwhile, it was contrasting fortunes for Magnussen who would end the event in 17th, two laps down and behind his teammate Mick Schumacher in 14th position.
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