Magnussen unapologetic after 'stupid' Hamilton Miami sprint defence

Kevin Magnussen believes all his Miami Grand Prix sprint penalties were "well-deserved" after a fierce battle with Lewis Hamilton earned him 35 seconds worth of sanctions.

After the early safety car, Magnussen found himself running in eighth place behind team-mate Nico Hulkenberg in the sister Haas and ahead of Hamilton's Mercedes.

The Briton, struggling with a lack of top-speed in the Mercedes, could not get into position to launch a move on the Dane at first, but eventually, Turn 11 became the scene of most of the action.

He ran wide and off the track at the tight left-hander after a DRS attack from Hamilton, hitting the Mercedes as rejoined, after having cut the chicane and gained an advantage.

On Lap 14 of 19, he ran both cars off the track at Turn 11, allowing Yuki Tsunoda to slip past Hamilton.

For these incidents, Magnussen was handed three 10-second-time penalties and a five-second one that dropped him from 10th on the road to 17th in the final results - but he refused to apologise as Hulkenberg took another points finish for the team in seventh.

"All the penalties were well-deserved, but I had to play the [team] game again," Magnussen told Sky Sports F1.

"I was in a very good position behind Nico, and at the beginning of the race, I gained a lot of positions and was up in P8.

"I was protecting well from Lewis because I had the DRS from Nico, and had good pace, then Nico cut the chicane and I lost the DRS.

"Nico could have given that back to give me the DRS to defend because we would have easily been P7 and P8."

Magnussen deployed similar defensive tactics in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, holding the pack up behind to allow Hulkenberg to build a gap to earn a point after his pit-stop.

He described them as "stupid" tactics, but remained firm that he had simply done his job.

"Instead I was pretty vulnerable with Lewis, fighting with him like crazy and I had to create the gap like I did in Jeddah and start using these stupid tactics," he added.

"At the end of the day, I don't like doing them, but I did my job as a team player and Nico scored his points because I got that gap for him, so Lewis and [Yuki] Tsunoda couldn't catch him.

"It is not the way I like to go racing, but it is what I had to do today."