The stewards have handed McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen a 20 second penalty and two penalty points on his super license after the Belgian Grand Prix for running Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso off the track.

The pair were fighting for fourth position with two laps to go in the race when Magnussen forced Alonso off the track on the run to Les Combes corner. Alonso, at the time, was also under pressure from Jenson Button in the other McLaren in 6th. After being forced off the track, Alonso lost the position to Button, but then fought back though Malmedy and Rivage to take back the place from Button and attempted a pass on Magnussen on the outside at Rivage, but again, Magnussen forced the Spaniard off the road.

Alonso lost the place to Button on the final lap after Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, trying to get ahead of Magnussen, took out most of Alonso’s front wing at the La Source hairpin.

The statement by the FIA reads as follows:

“The driver of car 20 was defending his position on the straight between Turns 4 and 5 [Raidillon and Les Combes], a significant portion of car #14 was alongside car #20. The driver of car #20 did not leave enough space for car #14 and forced the car off the track,”

The penalty dropped Magnussen to 12th and promoted Alonso to 7th.

The Spaniard was very relaxed about the situation and seemed unfazed by what had happened. “”When you are fighting for lower positions, sixth or seventh or whatever, it’s a little bit less important,” he said. “You just try to have fun, with safety as well, but it was not a big deal.”

Photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1