Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is not too happy with Kevin Magnussen after losing both Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg to a “not very sensible” accident in Monaco.
The Monaco Grand Prix was red flagged on the opening lap when Red Bull’s Perez and Haas’s Hulkenberg and Magnussen were involved in a huge crash, with Perez’s Red Bull being wiped out when Magnussen pushed him into the barriers on the St. Devoto hill.
Christian Horner ‘surprised’ there was no Kevin Magnussen investigation
Additional reporting by Sam Cooper
Magnussen’s team-mate Hulkenberg was also involved in the incident and was disqualified, but the stewards decided there was no need to investigate, much to the relief of Magnussen, who is now just two penalty points away from a one-race ban.
The stewards’ decision left Horner perplexed, calling Magnussen’s move “not very wise” and saying it had ruined not only Pérez’s race, but also his teammate’s.
“I was surprised it wasn’t investigated because it was a pretty serious incident,” Horner told media including PlanetF1.com.
“Kevin had his tyres on the inside where the track gets narrower and narrower so that was the expectation that he would drop back but he not only ruined Checo’s race and his car, he ruined his team-mate’s race too – not a very smart thing to do.”
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Asked if he had any estimate at this stage as to the extent of the damage to Perez’s RB20, Horner replied: “I don’t know about the engine and the chassis but it’s clearly a significant accident, so it’s a very costly accident.”
But Horner stressed that the most important thing was that Perez escaped unharmed from a “horrific incident”.
“It was a horrible accident,” he said. “Obviously, at the time my heart just about jumped out of my mouth and my immediate focus was on the safety of the driver.
“And thankfully, you know, the car is repairable. But the structure and the halo and everything played a role. So the most important thing is that Checo was able to walk away unscathed from what looked like a very bad accident.”
After a tough race at Imola, Perez is at a crucial juncture in his contract extension with Red Bull and was aiming for a strong performance in Monaco, but being eliminated in Q1 was not how he wanted to be heading into the race weekend.
And while Horner said the weekend had been “tough” for Perez, he did not deny that Red Bull needed both cars to perform with tougher competition at the front, with Ferrari and McLaren filling the top four in Monaco and Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen finishing sixth.
“Yeah, it’s been quite a tough weekend for him,” Horner said when asked how concerned he was about Perez’s performance in Monaco.
“And, of course, we need to make sure that both cars can score points, because you can’t ignore the threat of Ferrari and McLaren in both championships.”
Ferrari cut Red Bull’s lead in the constructors’ championship to just 24 points after Charles Leclerc won in Monaco and Carlos Sainz finished third.
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