Kevin Magnussen has been forced to visit the medical centre after the Singapore Grand Prix for burns and also suffering from dehydration. The rookie driver was complaining that his drinks bottle was too hot and that it was burning his mouth.
On several occasions, the Dane was saw lifting his hands off the steering wheel to cool them down during the safety car period.
The McLaren team confirmed that Magnussen visited the medical centre for treatment and they would launch an investigation as to why his cockpit overheated.
“For Kevin, who had driven such an excellent qualifying lap here yesterday, this afternoon was gruelling; there’s no other word,” Racing Director Eric Boullier said.
“His first stint was satisfactory, but in stint two he began to experience tyre degradation to a greater degree than we’d predicted, forcing us to convert his strategy from a two-stopper to a three-stopper.
“To add injury to insult, he was then subjected to severe bodily discomfort as his car’s cockpit began to overheat, necessitating his holding his arms aloft, first one then t’other, in an effort to direct cooling air down his sleeves and inside his race-suit, which was an unusually painful complication for him.
“In the end, after an impressively plucky drive in extremely challenging conditions, he was able to score a single point for the team. It was scant consolation, of course it was, but it’s indicative of his tremendous fighting spirit, and I commend him for it.”
Magnussen described his single point at the end of the race as the hardest he’s ever earned.
“It was a very, very tough grand prix,” the Dane said. “During the race, I don’t know if there was something wrong with the car, but my seat started getting very hot, which made things extremely uncomfortable for me.
“Without that, I think we could have done better than 10th, but at least we got that one point. It’s better than nothing.
“It was the hardest point I’ve ever earned.”
