Villeneuve calls out the grid again: "What's the issue now?"
F1 News
Coming into the race weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, there was a change to the grid. After amassing 12 penalty points in just a year's time, Kevin Magnussen was handed a race ban for the race in Baku, meaning Oliver Bearman replaced the Dane. After his ten-second penalty and two penalty points at the Italian Grand Prix last time out which led to his ban, many drivers deemed it to be unfair on Magnussen. However, Jacques Villeneuve strongly disagrees.
During round 16 of the 2024 season at Monza, the previous race, Magnussen was judged to have caused a collision after he and Pierre Gasly touched wheels. The FIA investigated the incident, and they gave Magnussen a ten-second time penalty and two penalty points, resulting in a ban for the next race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Many drivers in the paddock at Monza said that it was an extremely harsh penalty to be handed to the Haas driver, with the incident that led to Magnussen's ban coming from what many would call a 'racing incident'. Gasly himself was not too impressed that the Dane was to be banned for the next race, as well as two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, with both of them questioning the penalty points system.
Drivers have been "complaining for three years" says Villeneuve
However, 1997 world champion Villeneuve has no problem with the ban that was given to Magnussen, and he was extremely surprised that drivers were backing the Dane after complaining about him in the previous season. He gave this fierce opinion to Sky Sports after FP3 in Baku, saying: "He got so many [penalty points] before that. And every driver, it's been years of drivers complaining, complaining, complaining about Kevin. And when you get it, it's like, 'Oh no, he shouldn't get fined for it.' No, actually, you spent three years complaining about him. What's the issue now?"
The Canadian continued on by saying that Magnussen's ban was something that had been coming for a long time, and he also believes that the Dane should have been banned earlier in the season: "He should have had a penalty in Monaco already. There he really deserved it [to be banned]. I think that's why they gave it (the Monza penalty, ed.) a little bit easier."