Kevin Magnussen’s Jeddah race had already been spoiled by a 10-second penalty for contact with Alex Albon when he passed Yuki Tsunoda while running off the circuit. The move subsequently earned him a second 10-second penalty.
He then followed orders to slow down the Japanese driver and others in the following group in order to allow team-mate Nico Hulkenberg to create a window for what was in effect a free pit stop.
After the race, the RB team called Haas’s strategy “unsportsmanlike”, while Albon – who was also among those held up – called Magnussen’s pass of Tsunoda “cheeky.”
Komatsu admits that the team didn’t realise that Magnussen had gone off-track to make the pass on Tsunoda, and stressed that had it done so it would have asked him to give the place back.
"I accept criticism,” he said when asked by Autosport. “The criticism is the fact that we as a team didn't know that Kevin overtook Tsunoda by going off the track. We just didn't know that at that time.
“So that's the criticism I totally accept, we should have known that as a team straight away. And then Kevin should have given the position back by himself anyway. But if he didn't, as a team, we should have instructed Kevin to give the position back straight away.
“And had we done that, there would be no argument, we would have overtaken Tsunoda anyway, because we had the pace.”
Source: Autosport