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Kevin Magnussen put his session-ending shunt in FP2 down to driver error as McLaren’s tough start to life with Honda power continued in Melbourne.
McLaren was limited to a handful of laps in FP1 before Magnussen ran deep at Turn 6, across the gravel trap and into the barrier, ending his session prematurely. Magnussen is standing in for Fernando Alonso as he continues to recover from his crash at the second winter test in Barcelona.
Some questions after the session were framed to suggest there could be a link between Alonso and Magnussen’s crashes but the Dane said he was just pushing too hard.
“There was nothing on the track,” Magnussen said. “It was just me; I braked too late and tried to push it a bit. I lost the rear on the entry and it then snapped at a difficult time and that’s when I pointed the car towards the wall, I couldn’t avoid it. Just a driver mistake, the whole thing.”
Magnussen rejected the suggestion his limited time behind the wheel in the winter contributed to the crash.
