F1 driver gets rare one-race ban for rule break, handing chance to British star

Kevin Magnussen could be getting replaced by Ollie Bearman at Haas a little earlier than anticipated – but only for one Formula 1 race.

The ten-year veteran now has 12 points on his FIA Super License for various transgressions over the last 12 months.

The last two of those were added to his tally in the Italian Grand Prix when he tangled with Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.

Going into turn four on lap 18, the Haas driver attempted to overtake his French rival on the inside.

However, the Dane seriously misjudged it, causing contact to occur.

And the stewards opted to take action for his misdemeanour.

On-track he got a ten-point penalty, still managing an impressive tenth place finish.

However, his actions will now see him miss the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Stating a breach of Article 4.2 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, a statement confirmed: “The Super Licence of the driver of Car 20 is suspended for the next Competition of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship. Following this suspension, 12 penalty points will be removed.”

Speaking after the race, before his ban was confirmed, Magnussen was happy with his result in the Italian Grand Prix but did not agree with the ten-second penalty for his ding with Gasly.

“Happy with our race. I don’t know what’s going on with these penalties,” the Haas star said. “I mean, what’s the point? We had a slight contact into Turn 4, no damage on either car. It had no consequence, nobody lost anything. We both missed the corner but, hey, we’re racing.

“I just don’t get the point, honestly. I saw Nico almost had 300km/h, almost hit the barrier with the contact with [Daniel] Ricciardo and he [Ricciardo] got five seconds. I got ten seconds for this. At this point, I don’t know what’s going on.

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“Happy with today’s point, happy with the balance and the performance in the car and the strategy, so we can take that onwards.”

Asked if he would talk to the stewards about the decision, Magnussen added: “Yeah, I have to. It doesn’t make any sense. It makes zero sense.”

However, now he must sit out the next race and will likely be replaced by British driver Bearman.

The 19-year-old Briton is set to come in for the Dane next season but will now get a run out this season – a few months earlier than planned.

He made his F1 bow at this season’s Saudi Arabia Grand Prix for Ferrari after Carlos Sainz suffered a bout of appendicitis.

Bearman produced a fine display, finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton in P7, becoming the youngest driver to claim points on his F1 debut.