Lewis Hamilton crashes with Kevin Magnussen in nightmare opening Spanish Grand Prix lap
Magnussen #Magnussen
Lewis Hamilton ran slightly wide in turn four on the first lap to make contact with Kevin Magnussen at the Spanish Grand Prix. It dropped the seven-time champion to 19th, despite qualifying sixth.
Hamilton responded on team radio moments after the crash, apologising to his team and asking to retire from the race. He said: “I would save this engine for you guys, I’m sorry.”
But Mercedes quickly refused his request, claiming they could still score points later in the afternoon. However, Magnussen wasn’t happy with the seven-time champion claiming he had crashed into him on purpose.
He said: “Lewis just rammed me! He knew what he was doing.”
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The poor start meant Hamilton threw away his P6 start after a better qualifying for Mercedes yesterday. Both Silver Arrows were comfortably into Q3 after a better performance from the team.
Hamilton was optimistic ahead of the race that he could move forwards from sixth on the grid. Meanwhile, team-mate George Russell jumped from fourth to third at the start before benefiting from a Max Verstappen mistake to jump up to second.
The pair have battled throughout the race but Verstappen is still suffering from some DRS issues and Red Bull’s mechanical issues continue.