Alan Permane, RB F1 Team racing director, admitted being disappointed with how Haas scored a point in Jeddah, calling Kevin Magnussen’s driving “unsportsmanlike behavior”.
The Danish driver received two 10-second penalties, one for hitting Alexander Albon, and the second for overtaking Yuki Tsunoda by leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
Haas then used Magnussen to slow down the drivers behind and create a pit-stop window for Nico Hulkenberg, who managed to score one point.
Permane admitted that what happened on track was “a little difficult to take” and the RB F1 Team as well as other outfits will talk to the FIA about it.
“We started him [Tsunoda] on the medium tire, and when the safety car came out, pitted him for the hard compound. What then happened was a little difficult to take.
“Magnussen drove off the track to deliberately put himself in front of Yuki and then slowed him down by up to two seconds a lap, which allowed Hulkenberg, who hadn’t stopped yet, to create a gap and of course pit in front of all the cars behind.
“That, to me, doesn’t seem correct and is the very definition of unsportsmanlike behavior. I’m sure we and other teams will talk to the FIA about it for future races.”
Team principal Laurent Mekies was also angry about what happened, as he underlined how Magnussen’s penalty became meaningless, and he also ruined Tsunoda’s race.
“Yuki was fighting for what could have been a P10 finish,” said the Frenchman. “He was then passed by Magnussen, who cut the track to do so and then slowed down the whole pack to let his team-mate open a gap to pit in front of all of us.
“It made the penalty imposed on Magnussen meaningless, as it destroyed Yuki’s race.”