Sergio Perez accused of ‘intimidating’ F1 rival as Red Bull ace celebrates new contract | F1 | Sport

Kevin Magnussen has accused Sergio Perez of trying to ‘intimidate’ him by moving across during the opening lap of the Monaco Grand Prix. The two drivers were involved in a major shunt after crashing at Beau Rivage, but the stewards deemed the contact a racing incident with neither punished with a time penalty.

For Perez, the entire Monaco weekend was a write-off, but he was able to put his struggles behind him when a two-year contract extension was announced earlier this week. The Mexican will partner Max Verstappen until at least the end of the 2026 campaign, despite question marks around his performances.

While Perez has been able to celebrate his new deal, Magnussen’s future is looking far more precarious, and his crash in Monaco robbed him of a chance to show Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu what he can do. The Dane faces competition from Oliver Bearman, Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon for a seat with his current team in 2025.

Assessing his thoughts on the crash two weeks down the line, Magnussen said: “I don’t see Checo as a dirty driver or anything, but I was surprised that he didn’t leave me the room. Clearly, he was just pushing me to the wall to intimidate me and have me back out. But I don’t think… that’s certainly not the way we should be racing.

“He can’t argue that he didn’t see me. He saw me. There’s no way around it. He did see me. So yeah, that is the reason I kept it flat – because I trusted that he would leave me the space since he’d seen me.”

For Magnussen, the pressure will be on to avoid another early end to his weekend in Montreal. Recent crashes in Miami and Monaco mean that the Haas driver is on 10 penalty points heading into the Canadian Grand Prix, leaving him potentially one punishment from the FIA away from an unprecedented race ban.

Additionally, he needs to show Komatsu that he can close the gap to team-mate Nico Hulkenberg if he is to secure a new contract to stay in F1. “The team knows me very well, I’m a known quantity to the team, so I don’t think there’s anything for me to prove,” he noted.

“It’s a very open driving market this time around. We’ll see how it pans out. I’ve made it clear that I would love to continue here. And the team is in a good position where there’s pretty good hope for the future for this team. So, yeah, I’d love to be part of it.”