Kevin Magnussen is the Ultimate Team Player in F1

Kevin Magnussen continues to do whatever he can to help the Haas Formula 1 team, even if he's not putting up points.

In a 19-lap sprint, Magnussen received the same penalty three times, all in the process of protecting his teammate Nico Hulkenberg's points-paying position. Magnussen was noted leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage three times in the course of 19 minutes.

In an F1 Sprint race only the top eight positions receive points instead of the top 10. Hulkenberg was clinging onto the seventh spot when Magnussen started playing defense behind him against RBs Yuki Tsunoda and Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton.

Magnussen knew that his chance of points was spoiled after the first penalty and dedicated the rest of the race to being an absolute menace in the midfield.

On top of the three 10-second penalties and an additional five-second penalty given during the race, Magnussen received three penalty points on his super license. A driver will face suspension if they accumulate 12 penalty points over a 12-month period.

After meeting with the stewards at 2:15 p.m. EDT, Magnussen said he agreed with the penalties dealt.

"All the penalties were well deserved, but I had to play the game," Magnussen told Sky Sports.

Seven-time World Champion Hamilton received the brunt of Magnussen's defensive driving, and while the two drivers never collided, they did bang the wheel a few times around the circuit as the Mercedes could not find a clear pass around the Haas.

When Sky Sports told Hamilton that Magnussen owned up to his bullish driving, he offered serious props.

"I think that's pretty honest of him, and I think it's pretty cool," Hamilton said with a smile.

"We had a good race; it was a little bit on the edge in certain places, but that's what I love," Hamilton stated. "I love racing hard. I wasn't really pissed, or sorry, frustrated."

"That's what you do to run as a team," Hamilton continued.

Hamilton was knocked back to 16th position due to a 20-second time penalty for pit lane speeding.

This will be Magnussen's last season as a teammate of Hulkenberg, who moves on to Sauber Kick in 2025 with a multi-year contract before Audi joins the team in 2026.

Hulkenberg would finish in seventh, collecting two points, and once all the penalties were tacked on to Magnussen, he would finish 18th only ahead of Lando Norris and Lance Stroll, who retired after their first-turn incident with Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

This is not the first time this season that Magnussen has performed a masterclass in defense to help protect a points position for his teammate. During the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Magnussen collected two 10-second penalties and knew his race was over, but it didn’t stop him from running 10th behind his teammate and foiling every mid-pack driver that attempted to pass him.

The next race weekend at the Australian Grand Prix, with no penalties, Magnussen was able to stay in the points with his teammate collecting the first double podium for Haas in 2024.

With three teams—Kick Sauber, Alpine, and Williams—still without points, Haas finds themselves safely in seventh position in the Constructors' championship with seven points, four of which can be contributed by Magnussen's defensive efforts and one by his offensive.

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls is their closest target, sitting at six points above them with 13, helped by Daniel Riccardo's fourth-place finish in today's Sprint race.

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