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Crash rookie Kevin: 'I'm disappointed'

SEPANG, Malaysia - McLaren new boy Kevin Magnussen apologised to his team on Sunday after a rookie error that ruined his 2014 Malaysian GP.

The 21-year-old was the toast of the sport after the Australian GP two weeks earlier when he brilliantly reached the podium in his first F1.

Magnussen tasted the lows of F1 on Sunday when he was blamed for an early collision with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen from which neither fully recovered.

BAD COLLISION

Magnussen blew out Raikkonen's right rear tyre in the incident and earned a five-second penalty. He eventually finished just in the points in ninth, with Raikkonen down in 12th.

Magnussen said: "I'm sorry for the team that I messed things up going into the second corner with the incident with Kimi. I think we could have scored some good points, so I'm disappointed with, and for, myself too."

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier called the race "an F1 rookie's rite of passage, inevitable and unsurprising", and praised Magnussen for apologising to his team mates. All of which was little consolation for Raikkonen, who has had a difficult start to the 2014 season after returning to Ferrari and is trailing in the standings after the first two races.

He said: "I am very disappointed with how this race turned out. I had a good start but then the collision with Magnussen damaged my right rear tyre, which meant I had to make an extra stop. That wiped out any chance I had of fighting for a good finish.

"It was a really unlucky day."
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