Magnussen: 'I do not care what people are saying about me'

Kevin Magnussen has claimed that he does not care what people say about him or his driving, and added that he is not in Formula 1 to make friends, following criticism of his conduct in high-profile spats with Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg.

The Dane started to have his sportsmanship come under question during the Hungarian Grand Prix when, after an on-track argument and collision with Hulkenberg, he said to the German to 'suck his balls' on live television after the interview was interrupted.

The Renault man would later go on to call Magnussen an 'asshole' in an interview of his own, but the latter isn't too perturbed about popularity.

“I do not care what people are saying about me. If someone says something negative, I get to know from you (journalists), but I’m not actually bothered," he told Ekstra Bladet newspaper.

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“One thing I stopped a while ago was looking at social media.

“As a public person you are often mentioned and receive many messages. It may be frustrating to look at so that has helped a lot.

For the incident with Hulkenberg, Magnussen received a penalty but even though there was no punishment for the argument with Alonso, social media still blew up with chatter about the duo. The two collided during the Malaysian GP, with the Spaniard shouting over his radio shortly after, "What an idiot! Hülkenberg was right!, in reference to the previous spat.

The Haas driver has insisted that making friends is not a priority for him, but rather getting the right results for himself and his team.

“Of course, it’s not my goal to be unpopular, rather to get results, and sometimes you have to put your elbows out a bit.

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“Many drivers have complained about me this year but I do not want to say that I’m the most popular among the drivers.

"What matters to me is the results and what the stewards say, and this year I’ve only got one penalty because of my driving.

"That means I’m not so bad."