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Pierre Gasly accuses Kevin Magnussen of being the ‘most dangerous’ driver in F1 after shocking video footage emerges
Toro Rosso driver was nearly speared into the wall at speeds approaching 200mph after Magnussen attempted to block him from passing off the final restart in Baku
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Your support makes all the difference.Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly has labelled Haas rival Kevin Magnussen the “most dangerous” driver he’s ever raced against, with video footage released by Formula One showing the jaw-dropping collision between the pair at nearly 200mph.
The pair dropped down the order and out of the points after a heart-stopping moment four laps from the chequered flag as the race restarted following the final safety car period, with Gasly furious at what he perceived to be a deliberate move to block him from passing on the run to Turn One.
Magnussen accepted fault for the high-speed accident, but claimed that he was unable to see the rapidly-approaching Toro Rosso that had gained an advantage from using the large slipstream on offer down the Baku straight.
“I had so many vibrations in the car that the mirrors were useless, I couldn’t see anything at all,” said Magnussen, who went on to receive a 10-second time penalty that dropped him to 13th – one place behind Gasly – as well as two penalty points on his licence, which took his tally to eight inside the last 12 months. Should the Dane reach 12 in the space of a year, he will receive an automatic one-match ban.
Gasly was furious with Magnussen after the race, not least because he felt the second-generation F1 driver blocked him deliberately in practice on Friday, and he let his words fly in a scathing verbal attack on his rival.
“Kevin is the most dangerous guy I have ever raced with,” Gasly said. “He literally put me in the wall at 300kph at the re-start and completely ruined the race. I would have been in the worst case P10 at the last restart, so this is one thing.
“The safety car came out, we pitted and were P11. I knew points were on the table. I was going to pass him just before the safety car line one, went on the side, and he just put me in the wall right in the middle and took half of my floor out.
“Both my front wheels went in the air, broke my right mirror and bent my steering as well. After that I was just trying to survive until the end of the race. There was almost no point to race after that.”
Despite the Haas driver accepting the blame, Gasly has no intention of talking it over with Magnussen.
“Honestly I don’t care about all this. I knew exactly what he was doing, and he put me in the wall,” Gasly said.
“He’s been always like this. He’s been always racing hard. I don’t mind racing drivers which are hard, but like this is just way over the limit. You don’t put someone in the wall at 300kph.”
The two are separated by just one place in the drivers’ championship, with 11th-place Gasly leading Magnussen by a single point, and they could find themselves going toe-to-toe once again in under two weeks’ time at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona given that the two teams are neck-and-neck in the constructors’ standings.
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