Whose fault was it?
Formula 1 officials classified the first-lap crash that destroyed the cars—and races—of Checo Perez, chaos king Kevin Magnussen, and Nico Hulkenberg as a ‘racing incident’, which to me still doesn’t quite square with what I saw on the uphill climb out of Sainte Devote. But that’s the joy of being a casual observer—it’s not my decision to make. You’ve all seen the footage and will have formed your own opinions. This is mine: I think Magnussen has been very lucky here. That the crash happened on the first lap of the race, and that his position just about merited space from Perez, may save him. Remove those two circumstances and he’s probably in trouble. Even then, I have questions. Questions like: “What were you doing there?” and “Given your extensive knowledge of Monaco, where did you think that move would end?” But that would be too simplistic a line of enquiry.
