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Magnussen thankful he avoided a Steiner telling off after radio rants in Canada

Magnussen thankful he avoided a Steiner telling off after radio rants in Canada

20-06-2019 16:48
2

Guenther Steiner picked up a new reputation during Netflix's Formula 1 show, but last weekend it was the Haas boss who was doing the calming. Kevin Magnussen says Steiner did well to "shut me up" after his rant during the Canadian Grand Prix.

Magnussen's troubles started in qualifying when he crashed at the end of a hot lap in Q2 forcing a pitlane start. Frustration continued to build when he couldn't advance through the field. He said on the radio it was "the worst experience" he'd ever had in a racing car.

The 26-year-old claims that his boss Steiner was very understanding of the frustrations following the conclusion of the race. He reported this in an interview with Autosport.

"He didn't tell me off. You should hear when he tells me off! I think Guenther knows me very well and I don't complain very often. When I do it means I'm very, very frustrated," Magnussen said.

"He knows that, so I think he did well to just shut me up and make sure I didn't go crazy. I was about to eat the steering wheel. It was very bad at that moment. We were helpless in the race, so it was better to just get on with it and talk about it afterwards. I realised my message sounded more offensive to the team than I meant it to be."

Ahead of the French Grand Prix, Magnussen turned back on his comments. While the American team isn't doing as well as they did last season, the car is still good enough to put Magnussen in the top-half of the drivers' standings.

"There's no ground for me to criticise the car at all. [It's] clearly very good," he added.

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