'I don't care what other drivers think of me' - Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen has claimed that he does not "care what other drivers think of him" as the fallout from various incidents in the 2017 and 2018 Formula One campaigns continues, whilst also revealing a slight disdain for his mandatory media duties during the Grand Prix weekend.

Magnussen has gained a reputation over the past year or so for allegedly blocking other drivers, mostly in qualifying. Last year after the Hungarian Grand Prix, he was confronted by Nico Hulkenberg who dubbed him as "once again the most unsporting driver on the grid", to which Magnussen replied:

"Suck my balls, mate."

If Magnussen believes he is not breaking any rules, then he remains unaffected by criticism either by other drivers or the media, whilst also referencing a quote from Pierre Gasly which described him as dangerous on the track.

"I don't care what the other drivers think of me," he told ESPN.

"They can say what they want."

"To a certain extent, of course. If there's something like that where a story came out wrong, it depicted me as something that I didn't like and it was wrong -- completely wrong -- and it looked like I wanted to die in the car, which is crazy. But unless it's something like that, something which is incorrect, I don't care what anyone thinks."

Magnussen is known for being withdrawn, perhaps even short, during press conferences, but he admits this comes with a general dislike for the media duties which accompany the driving.

"I focus on the team and I block out all the outside media stuff, because it's so irrelevant and uncontrollable" the Haas driver continued.

READ MORE: Magnussen developing 'bad reputation' - Hakkinen
READ MORE: Magnussen reprimanded for Leclerc incident in Barcelona

"There's so many different medias on the internet, taking it from the big medias and making their own little article out of that and changing it into something that it isn't. There's never one story from an interview, there's always so many different stories.

"Generally I stay out of it. I don't look at social media, I have some people who look after it so whenever I want to post anything I send it to those guys so I don't have to look at the apps.

"I don't look at websites, what they're writing and all that. It's a distraction, unnecessary, because you cannot change it. So that part is really something about this job that is very irrelevant for me because it can be really frustrating if you really let it enter your mind."

Magnussen has made a solid start to the 2018 season and is currently ninth in the driver rankings on 19 points.