Magnussen says bad boy reputation "a bit of a joke"

The Danish drivers' aggressive tactics on track have caused controversy at times this year – with him famously telling Nico Hulkenberg to "suck my balls" after being criticised for a clash in Hungary.

And although a number of his rivals believe Magnussen is too aggressive in his on-track tactics, the Haas driver is far from fussed about things – and says that his team even wind him up over it.

"I don't mind," he said. "A lot of drivers have complained about me, but this has perhaps created a little bit of a joke in the team.

"I wouldn't say I am the most popular driver among the drivers, but I don't need to be. What matters to me is the results and what the stewards say.

"This year I have only had one penalty from a driving incident, so it means I am not that bad."

Pushed on if he had any driver friends in the paddock, he said: "In the paddock yes. But amongst the drivers I don't have friends at all. They are not my friends. It would never work to have a friendship, so I don't make any effort to make friends."

Magnussen has said that he is pretty immune from what others say about him, and that has been further helped by him deliberately steering clear of social media.

"One of the things that I stopped doing a while ago is look at social media," he said. "As a public person you get a lot of mentions and messages, and it can be very frustrating to look at.

"So I stopped looking at it. It helped a lot because now I am a little bit oblivious to what people are saying about me.

"Of course I get the info in the end, if someone says something that was controversial or negative about me, you guys [the media] will tell me. But I really don't mind it so much.

"I am not aiming to be unpopular. I am aiming to get good results, and sometimes you need to stick your elbows out to get those results."