K-Mag says interview, in which he spoke about being aggressive, was conducted pre-Baku; Has apologised to Gasly "many times"
Tuesday 11 December 2018 15:27, UK
Kevin Magnussen has clarified his widely-reported comments that he would rather "die in a car" than hold back, and insists he has apologised to Pierre Gasly "many times" after their Azerbaijan GP incident.
Following the race in Baku, where Gasly called Magnussen "the most dangerous driver I have ever raced with" after their high-speed coming together, quotes from the Dane surfaced where he stated he had to be aggressive in the midfield - hinting that he was doing so on purpose.
"There's nothing to lose if you're 11th - go for it," the Haas driver was reported as telling Reuters. "Sometimes you have to be a lot more aggressive when you're fighting out there.
"I will give everything. I will die in the car. I won't hold back. I would put my life on [the line]. Absolutely."
But Magnussen has taken to social media to clarify the remarks, saying he conducted the interview before last Sunday's grand prix and that he just wants to achieve success by putting in his all.
"The interview was done before the race in Baku and is not minded on the incident with Pierre in the race," Magnussen posted on Twitter. "I didn't squeeze Pierre on purpose and have apologised to him many times after the incident.
"I don't want to die in a race car. I was expressing my willingness to give absolutely everything in my power to achieve success. Success to me obviously isn't having accidents or getting penalties but finishing races as high a position as possible.
"I am living my childhood dream of racing in Formula 1 and I've put my whole life into achieving that dream so it is only natural for me to be giving absolutely everything I've got, to achieve success in racing and the day I no longer do that I will retire from racing immediately."
