Hamilton: Magnussen’s honesty over his "stupid" tactics "pretty cool"

Lewis Hamilton said he welcomed Kevin Magnussen’s honesty in admitting that his ultra-defensive “stupid tactics” in Miami’s Formula 1 sprint race were down to trying to help his team.

The seven-time world champion and his Haas rival had some fraught moments during their fight for eighth place in the sprint.

Magnussen picked up a penalty for cutting the chicane on one lap, they banged wheels later on and then both ran off the circuit later during their fight.

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Although the Haas' defence derailed Hamilton’s hopes of moving forward, he was clear afterwards that he saw nothing wrong with what Magnussen did – and actually welcomed the fact that the Dane had owned up to making things difficult.

“I mean, it's really honest of him. I think it's pretty cool,” Hamilton told Sky. “We had a good race. It was a little bit on the edge in some places, but that is what I love. I love racing hard.

“So for me, it wasn't really frustrating or anything. That is obviously what you do to work as a team. So bravo.”

Magnussen has been summoned by the stewards over alleged unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-24 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Hamilton finished eighth on the road but dropped out of the points as the result of a penalty he picked up for speeding in the pitlane during the early safety car period.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff felt ultimately that Mercedes lacked pace around the Miami circuit with poor straightline speed.

“I think that penalty for the pitlane speeding, these things can happen, these errors,” he said.

“And in that respect, I think the pace of the car was not too bad today. To the limited amount we were able to see there, set-up-wise it's clear we need to change direction for quali.”

The lack of top speed was a factor in George Russell having a frustrating time after he lost out in the Turn 1 melee to drop down the order and then found himself unable to recover in the DRS train.

“I think that race was just incredibly boring for everybody,” he said. “It was just a DRS train. In F1, you can't overtake if you don't have DRS and, when all the cars have got DRS, you just can't overtake.

“I made a good start, I was pretty stuck on the outside and obviously there was that big crash on the inside.

“I lost five or six positions to the cars behind. I'm sure it will be a different story tomorrow when things spread out, but it was a pretty boring race.”