Being behind Russell for 4 out of 5 races this season is highly unexpected from the 7-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton. Despite his move next year to Ferrari, fans are hoping to see Hamilton in competitive form, if not win races. But that seems far from the case.

Nico Rosberg has been vocal about his views on how Hamilton has not been taking accountability for his racing. After the Miami Sprint finish where George Russell came in 12th, Lewis Hamilton ended up in his teammate’s rearview mirror. During the interview after the race, Lewis Hamilton spoke about his close battle with Magnussen while not speaking about his P16 finish.

Lewis Hamilton on the Miami Sprint Race 2024

P16 for Lewis Hamilton becomes a heartbreaking sight. While Hamilton started P12, he made it to P8 but lost position while fighting off Kevin Magnussen. But what hurt his score the most was the 20-second penalty that he got for speeding in the pit lane.

After the Sprint race, Lewis Hamilton was interviewed about his battle against Kevin Magnussen and that’s where he spoke about the defending Danish driver, saying, “I think it’s really honest of him and I think it’s pretty cool. We had a good race, it was a little bit on the edge in some places but that’s what I love! I love racing hard!”

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However, it is to be noted that Magnussen sacrificed his race to make sure Hulkenberg could have a problem-free, P7 finish, and bring home some points.

What did Kevin Magnussen say about the penalties?

So let’s talk about Kevin Magnussen’s performance in this race, shall we? He showed F1 fans just how exciting battles can get with every inch, making a difference when it came to holding his position against Lewis Hamilton. While fighting the 7-time world champion, he had to take some maneuvers that did not make the FIA happy with his chicane skipping.

This is how he ended up with a whopping 35-second penalty. Kevin Magnussen spoke to Sky Sports F1 after the race and told them, “All the penalties were well deserved – no doubt about it. But I had to play the game again.”

Explaining his position he said, “I was in a very good position behind Nico there. In 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 I 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 protect because then we would have easily been P7 and P8.”

Ultimately, after the penalties were given, he started to fend off Lewis Hamilton from making a move on him and his teammate ahead of him. The Danish driver told Sky Sports that F1 is a team game and explained, “I started using these stupid tactics which I don’t like doing, but at the end of the day I did my job as a team player and Nico scored his points because I got that gap for him so Lewis and Tsunoda couldn’t catch him.”

In the end, his tactics worked as Lewis Hamilton was pushed behind in the grid. It did cost Magnussen his race too, but in the end, what mattered to him was getting points for the team in the sprint race to see how well that will push Haas closer to VCARB on the pecking order.