FIA was too easily influenced by Ocon – Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen says the FIA was too easily influenced by Esteban Ocon when it forced the Haas driver to make a pit stop early in the Canadian Grand Prix.

Light contact between Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap of the race led to the Dane picking up minor front wing damage, and Haas was relieved to determinne that it wasn’t affecting his car performance.

However, Alpine told Ocon of the damage and the Frenchman claimed he could see a loose section that could break off, resulting in the stewards then giving Magnussen a black and orange flag that mandates a pit stop to fix an issue.

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“I just had a bit of contact, nothing serious,” Magnussen said. “Scratched my front wing a little bit and then was told to pit.

“I was just talking to Ocon now and he was just joking how he told the FIA that it was really bad.

“If you know you can influence the FIA like that, you’re going to do it, aren’t you? Which is what he did. Fair play. But you’ve got to let us drive with that s***, it’s nothing.”

The pit stop dropped Magnussen, who'd been sixth on the road, out of the points, and he said he is becoming infuriated by inconsistencies in how the stewards handle different scenarios.

“I was keeping up, the car was fine. The front wing was safe, it was not broken off," he said.

“Think back to Jeddah last year – Lewis Hamilton won the race with half a front wing… which I think is correct, you know. It feels like suddenly it’s very different. Monaco they don’t start us because it starts drizzling. Here I’m called in because I have a scratch on my front wing…”