Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was involved in a heated battle with seven times world champion Hamilton during the sprint race.In the 19-lap race, which had several incidents, the pair battled for the final point, as Haas deployed tactics to ensure they secured itMagnussen, who was one place behind Nico Hulkenberg, picked up three different penalties for his antics – which totalled 30 seconds overall.The penalties were a result of his efforts to stay in front of Hamilton, which led to him running off the track on multiple different occasions.The two cars even made contact at one point and Magnussen picked up an additional five second penalty for track limit offences.”All the penalties were well deserved – no doubt about it,” Magnussen told Sky Sports F1. “But I had to play the game again.”I was in a very good position behind Nico there. In the beginning of the race, I gained a lot of positions and was up in P8.”All the penalties were well deserved, but I had to play the game” 🎲Kevin Magnussen on the “stupid tactics” he used to protect teammate Nico Hulkenberg, which enabled Haas to score points but saw the Dane rack up 25-seconds in penalties 👇 “I was protecting well from Lewis because I had the DRS from Nico and I had good pace.”Then Nico cut the chicane and I lost the DRS. Nico could have given that back to give me the DRS to protect because then we would have easily been P7 and P8.”Instead, I was really vulnerable to Lewis. Started fighting with him like crazy and I had to just create the gap like I did in Jeddah.”I started using these stupid tactics which I don’t like doing, but at the end of the day I did my job as a team player and Nico scored his points because I got that gap for him so Lewis and Tsunoda couldn’t catch him.”Not the way I like to go racing at all, but it was what I had to do today.”Hamilton has since responded to his interview, where he added: “I think that’s pretty honest from him – and I think that’s pretty cool.”We had a good race. It was a little bit on the edge in some places but that’s what I love. I love racing hard and, for me, I wasn’t really frustrated or anything.”That’s what you do to work as a team, so bravo.”Magnussen currently has eight points on his license and is approaching the 12-point limit that results in one race suspension.F1 fans are convinced Lewis Hamilton has ‘confirmed’ Adrian Newey’s next move ahead of Red Bull exitF1 fans are convinced Lewis Hamilton has ‘confirmed’ Adrian Newey’s next move ahead of Red Bull exitFans are convinced Lewis Hamilton just dropped a major hint about Adrian Newey…F1 fans are convinced Lewis Hamilton has dropped a major hint regarding Adrian Newey’s future.Newey, the most successful car designer in the history of the sport, announced on Wednesday that he would be leaving Red Bull after nearly two decades at the team.The 65-year-old will leave in 2025 after securing an early release from his role as chief technical officer.While rumours have since circulated that his exit was linked to the uproar surrounding Christian Horner and allegations of improper conduct, Newey has insisted he has been thinking about the exit for some time.“I guess (I was thinking about it) over the winter a little bit, and then as events have unfolded this year I thought, I’m in a very lucky position where I don’t need to work to live. I work because I enjoy it,” he told Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle.“I just felt that now was a good time to step back and take a bit of a break and take stock of life, and go travelling a bit.”Rumours are now circulating regarding his next move in the sport, with Hamilton being one of the big names to comment on the possibility of the pair linking up at Ferrari.When asked on the official F1 TikTok account whether or not he could partner with Newey in the future, Hamilton said: “If I was to do a list of people I’d like to work with, he would absolutely be at the top of it.”He was then pushed for an answer on the chances of it happening, he added: “I mean, I don’t know! We’ll see.” The seven-time world champion smiled as he answered – which has been taken as a sign.Fans are now convinced this was a massive hint from Hamilton that Newey could be joining him at Ferrari, with one writing: “He freaking knowsss!!! that smirk in the end confirms Newey to Ferrari!”Another added: “That would be a great collaboration.” Other fans are also speculating that Hamilton was aware of Newey’s availability before he made his decision to join Ferrari. “Lewis was already aware of the bids before Ferrari convinced him,” one fan said.Lewis Hamilton jokingly called out an F1 reporter for a ‘pretty low’ prediction before the start of the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix.The season-opening race of the 2024 season represents Hamilton’s final appearance at the Bahrain Grand Prix with Mercedes, as he will leave the team at the end of the season to join Ferrari.Saturday qualifying in Sakhir was a challenge for the Brit, as despite being only 0.5 seconds behind polesitter Max Verstappen, he qualified in ninth place. Team-mate George Russell finished third.It wasn’t the ideal start to the race either for Hamilton, as he fell down to ninth before overtaking Fernando Alonso prior to the first pit stop.However, shortly after changing tyres, the seven-time world champion reported issues with his Energy Recovery System (ERS) battery on the team radio. He also had problems with his seat.Russell, meanwhile, ran as high as second in the early stages but later dropped behind Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz into fourth.Before the Grand Prix, several reporters and pundits from F1’s in-house F1TV coverage gave their season predictions on where each driver would finish.Unsurprisingly, all six believe that Verstappen will win his fourth consecutive Drivers’ Championship with Red Bull.Five of the six contributors picked Leclerc to finish second, while one predicted that his team-mate Sainz would finish as runner-up in his final season with Ferrari before being replaced by Hamilton.As for Hamilton, F1TV presenter Will Buxton predicts that he will finish in third place in the Drivers’ Championship.But that is as good as it got for the 39-year-old, with a fourth place, two fifth places and a sixth place also predicted.But fellow presenter Lawrence Barretto predicted Hamilton to finish in seventh place – and he was jokingly called out before the race.In a pre-race interview with F1TV, the seven-time champion smiled before remarking: “Let me pull you up on something – you rated me pretty low, on the predictions…”He then laughed: “Nah, I’m just messing with you. Just putting you on the spot. You should see his face!”Every F1 driver who could replace Lewis Hamilton as 70% of grid is without 2025 contractLewis Hamilton will join Ferrari from Mercedes ahead of the 2025 season.70% of the current Formula 1 grid is set to be without a contract heading to the 2025 season amid Lewis Hamilton replacement rumours.By Thursday evening, it was confirmed that Hamilton will indeed leave Mercedes after the 2024 campaign.Since then, all the talk will be about who Mercedes could bring in to replace Hamilton ahead of the 2025 campaign.So far, the likes of Alexander Albon, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri have all been linked with a move to the Silver Arrows.Ahead of the 2025 season, it has been reported that 70 per cent of the current grid is set to be out of contract when the 2024 campaign comes to an end, meaning they could all be on Mercedes’ list of potential replacements for Hamilton.
