Boullier: Magnussen "blameless" in Massa's German GP crash
McLaren racing director Eric Boullier says Felipe Massa was wrong to blame Kevin Magnussen for their German Grand Prix collision, because the FIA's report proves the Dane was totally innocent
Massa hit out at Magnussen's driving after the Hockenheim race, suggesting the Formula 1 rookie had been too aggressive in trying to gain positions early on.
But with the official race stewards' report into the incident making it clear that only Massa's driving was under investigation, Boullier says that Magnussen should take none of the blame for what happened.
"The stewards report related to Felipe's driving and nothing else," explained Boullier, during a McLaren phone-in on Tuesday.
"There was a driving conduct investigation, and they decided to impose no penalty on Felipe, which is their prerogative.
"But the report makes it clear that Kevin was 100 per cent blameless, certainly."
Massa issues warning to young drivers
The official report issued by the stewards after the race was addressed only to Williams, because there was no investigation into Magnussen's role in the crash as he had not changed his line away from the grid.
In the end, the FIA decided that Massa had not done anything wrong because he had been "concentrating on car #77 [Valtteri Bottas]. There was no intentional turning in by car #19 [Massa] on car #20 [Magnussen].'
McLAREN HAPPY WITH DRIVERS
With Magnussen having shown strong form in recent races, Boullier made it clear that he was pleased with the way he and his more experience team-mate Jenson Button were performing.
"So far I am 100 per cent happy with both drivers," explained Boullier. "Jenson is clearly part of the family, he is fast and helps the team to drive where we want to go.
"With Kevin, as part of the learning process, he has respected all the tests we needed him to do and he is starting to clearly deliver in terms of his performance and in terms of result. So far I am 100 per cent happy."
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