Lewis Hamilton, the British driver from Mercedes AMG in Formula 1, described his intense battle with Kevin Magnussen from Haas during the Miami Sprint race as “extremely challenging”, but also something he thoroughly enjoyed. Hamilton had a dramatic start to the race, diving on the inside at turn 1 and causing a chaotic situation involving Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, and Lando Norris. Although no investigation was conducted on the incident, Hamilton found himself engaged in a fierce fight with Magnussen for eighth place and the final point throughout the race. Magnussen defended his position aggressively, forcing Hamilton off the track at turn 11 on two occasions and allowing Yuki Tsunoda to overtake. However, Hamilton managed to regain his position and overtake both Magnussen and Tsunoda to secure eighth place. Unfortunately, Hamilton was later penalized for speeding in the pit entry, resulting in a drop to 16th place. Despite the penalty, Hamilton expressed his satisfaction with the battle, stating that he relished the opportunity to race and enjoyed not backing down. Magnussen, on the other hand, was disappointed with the situation, believing he could have benefited his teammate Nico Hulkenberg if he had been given the chance to defend his position against Hamilton.
“I had to create a gap similar to what I did in Jeddah and start employing these silly strategies, which I don’t like. However, in the end, I fulfilled my responsibilities as a team player and allowed Nico to secure his points by establishing that gap, preventing Lewis and [Yuki] Tsunoda from closing in. It’s not my preferred approach to racing, but it was necessary today.”
Magnussen received a total of 25 seconds penalty for his actions, but acknowledged that the Stewards were justified in demoting him to the last classified position.
“I fully accept that all penalties were well deserved, no doubt,” he admitted.
Hamilton, despite expressing frustration over the team radio in the heat of the moment, respected Magnussen’s honesty as soon as they got out of their cars.
“I find that truly commendable and very cool,” he commented. “We had an exciting race, with some challenging moments, but that’s where I thrive! I like to race fiercely.”
“I wasn’t really upset or anything! But yes, that’s what you do to function as a team, so bravo.”
