Kevin Magnussen was bothered by Nicholas Latifi's movement in the crash that ended their race in France, while the Williams driver defended himself and said he still needs to see the replay
Kevin Magnussen and Nicholas Latifi were involved in an accident during the French GP last Sunday (24), when the Canadian Williams driver tried to attack the Haas Dane's position on lap 38. At the time, Latifi attacked from the inside at turn 1, but the two cars touched and went off the track. As a result of the damage, both drivers had to leave the race. And 'K-Mag' was left with the feeling that it was his rival's fault.
"From my point of view, there was nowhere to go except off the track towards the poles, and at that point it was too late," he admitted. "I think he should have given me more room, but it's hard to say now - I'd have to see it again on TV and judge. It's a shame, we tried our best, we started last and had a good car in fast lap pace, but not in long journeys. So we suffered a little bit, but we gave our best," he said.
Latifi seemed a bit more willing to accept blame for the incident, but still said he needs to see the replay to understand what happened. In the opinion of Alexander Albon's teammate, his car was slightly ahead of Haas at the time of the touch, which would have given him corner preference at that instant.
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"I haven't seen the replay yet," the Canadian said. "You always have a perspective from inside the car, when you think for sure it wasn't your fault. I attacked on the inside in turn one, we both spread out a little bit. And I felt I was a little ahead of him in turn 2," he explained.
Despite admitting that he still needs to see the replay, Latifi defended himself and used the characteristics of the track to argue that it is a corner where overtaking is dangerous. Thus, he considered the hypothesis that both were half to blame for the incident that ended both races - and kept the Williams driver as the only driver who has not scored so far in F1.
"Again, I felt I left enough room, but I need to see the video," he stressed. "Normally, it's a place where the radius of the corner kind of squeezes you and it gets narrower, so I thought the corner was mine and the position was mine at that point. So I have to watch the replay. I definitely don't feel it was my fault - maybe a racing incident, 50-50 [blame for each side]," he closed.