Kevin Magnussen is now two points away from receiving a Formula 1 race ban after yet another incident-filled race in Miami.
Heading into Sunday Magnussen was on eight penalty points, having picked up three points for repeatedly leaving the track without a justifiable reason while fighting Lewis Hamilton.
And things went awry halfway through the grand prix as while battling Logan Sargeant well outside of the points, Magnussen stuck his Haas to the inside of Sargeant through Turns 2/3 and tipped the Williams into a spin.
The stewards handed Magnussen a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points for causing a collision but Magnussen's pain didn't end there.
He was summoned for not changing tyres after entering the pits under the safety car his clash with Sargeant caused. Magnussen was found guilty with Haas accepting blame for the error.
He was given a drive-through penalty which was converted into a 20s post-race penalty that dropped Magnussen from 18th to 19th in the final classification behind Albon.
A telling reaction
Magnussen's feelings post-race can be best summarised by an unaltered transcript of his post-race media session.
Interviewer - Hmm a disappointing race?
Kevin Magnussen: Yeah.
Could it have been any worse? A weekend from hell in all respects?
KM: yeah I agree.
Your view on what happened with Logan?
KM: I better not comment.
Clearly not happy?
KM: No of course not.
Feel penalty was incorrect?
KM: Still no comment
I take it you don't want to comment on Stella's comments about you [that you deserved a ban after Saturday]?
KM: You're right.
Do you need some answers and clarity on exactly what the racing rules are? They changed for this year but they don't seem to be completely clear on what's possible?
KM: yeah, [muffled] clarity.
Only himself to blame?
Magnussen's understandably frustrated after another bruising race but he only has himself to blame for the Sargeant incident at least.
He wasn't in realistic points contention so the kind of lairy risk-taking used during the sprint just wasn't necessary in the grand prix.
Sticking your nose up the inside of another car through as tight a corner as Turn 3 when you're two-thirds of the way towards a race ban already is highly ill-judged, particularly for someone with Magnussen's experience level.
Does Magnussen deserve a race ban for what he's done this weekend? I'd strongly argue 'no' given it amounts to some clever taking advantage of a rules blindspot and one small but costly misjudgement, but combined with two other major incidents in five races this season, you can't say it would be a major injustice if one more incident leads to a benching.
It's certainly going to be a nervy next 10 months until the first three of those 10 points are removed.
How Magnussen got here
Magnussen opened his penalty points tally with a trio received for causing a collision with Alex Albon in Jeddah where he performed a controversial roadblock to assist team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.
He received another two for clumsily tipping Yuki Tsunoda into a spin in Shanghai before the five he picked up in Miami.
Accumulate 12 points and you'll be banned from the next F1 race. No driver has been banned since the current penalty point system was introduced.
Magnussen has amassed his 10 penalty points in six races so far this season, with another 18 races still to go.
