Magnussen makes ‘intimidation’ claim against Perez

Kevin Magnussen has doubled down on his belief that Sergio Perez was at fault for their opening lap crash at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The duo came together on the exit of the first corner and suffered terminal damage, with Magnussen's Haas team-mate Nico Hulkenberg also caught up in the incident.

Magnussen came under fire by fans and pundits alike for his car placement prior to the clash, however, the Dane asserted the Red Bull driver pushed him into the wall.

Speaking to media, including RacingNews365, Magnussen maintained his view that Perez should have left him room after spotting him in his mirrors. 

“I've looked at it many times,” he said. “It's always one thing when it happens, your view of what happened often changes when you see it from the outside.

“But in this case, it didn't change that much, really. The accident, in my view, it was not what I wanted to happen. It's a costly thing for the team and unnecessary.

“The thing is, he had seen me and I knew he had seen me. If you're not sure he's seen you, then I perceive the risk as being bigger.

“If I wasn't sure that he'd seen me, I probably would have just backed off. But it was very clear to me that he had seen me. So I thought ‘he's going to leave a car's width’. I trusted that he was going to do that, which in hindsight, I shouldn’t have trusted him.

“But that doesn't change the fact that he didn't leave a car’s width.”

'Not the way we should be racing'

Magnussen avoided a penalty for the incident, which likely would have seen him issued a race ban due to his penalty point count nearing the yearly tally of 12 that results in an automatic suspension.

The Dane claimed Perez was attempting to intimidate him into backing out when instead he should have provided room for both cars.

“Maybe with my experience, I should have known that [he wouldn't leave room]," he added. "Some drivers don't always leave a car’s width, there is always a risk that they won’t.

“I don't see Checo as a dirty driver or anything but I’m surprised that he didn't leave me the room.

“Clearly he was just pushing me to the wall to intimidate me and have me back out. But that's certainly not the way we should be racing. He can't argue that he didn't see me.

“There's no way around it, he did see me. So yeah, that is the reason I kept that flat because I trusted that he would leave me with the space since he'd seen me.”