Sauber: Magnussen Suzuka F1 move against Leclerc f****** dangerous

Leclerc hit the rear of Magnussen's car on the run to the first corner early in the race as he attempted to pass the Haas driver.

Magnussen picked up a rear puncture and retired shortly afterwards, while Leclerc had to change his nose.

The FIA stewards took the view that because both drivers had moved right at the same time, the clash was a racing incident.

"From my point of view it was quite obvious, but there was no further action," Vasseur told Autosport. "I was a bit surprised.

"He's involved in all the big crashes throughout the season, if you have a look. I'm not the referee, it's the FIA. They have to take decisions or not.

"The move was fucking dangerous, he's moving always late, and one day we'll have a huge crash. When you are at 320km/h, it's more than dangerous."

Race director Charlie Whiting said video analysis suggested that both cars moved at the same time.

"I think it is impossible to say Kevin blocked him," said Whiting.

"It was just that he had made the decision, he was going to go right, fractionally after Charles had.

"You have to look at it quite a few times and analyse it in a little detail to see that. But I think it was just unfortunate, and I think that is what the stewards felt."

Vasseur was confident that Leclerc, who eventually retired as a result of a car failure, would have had a strong result.

"I think we had a good first part of the race, the pace was there," said Vasseur.

"We had to stop under the safety car to change the nose, and we tried to take another strategy, but it was done.

"It's a shame because I think the pace was good again.

"It was his first time in Suzuka, and for sure it's not an easy one. He was P6 in Q1, but we just have to be able to put everything together. It's so tight between P7 and P17, a small mistake and you're at the back."

Vasseur added he had no issue with the collision between Marcus Ericsson and team-mate Leclerc at chicane at the safety car restart, which damaged both cars.

"Everybody braked very, very late and hard under the safety car," he said.