Lewis Hamilton has avoided any punishment, having been called to the stewards after impeding Alexander Albon during the second free practice session at the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Albon initially labelled the positioning of Hamilton’s Ferrari “dangerous” as the Williams driver approached at Turn 12 and the stewards duly summoned the seven-time world champion after the session.
However, after speaking to both drivers and studying the relevant data, it was decided by the four stewards that no further action was required against Hamilton.
“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), the driver of Car 23 (Alexander Albon), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence and determined that Car 44 unnecessarily impeded Car 23 during Practice 2 at Turn 17,” the steward’s document read.
“However, as agreed with the teams, unless the impeding during free practice was such that it could be regarded as dangerous, there will be no penalty for such impeding. During the hearing, the driver of Car 23 felt that he had the car under control at all times and while he was impeded, he did not consider the situation to be dangerous.
Alex Albon, Williams
Photo by: Lars Baron – Motorsport Images
“He had seen Car 44 in front of him during the corner before. However, he did not expect Car 44 to be in the position on track that he was in and that shocked the driver of Car 23 as he approached Turn 17 and had to take evasive action.
“While his immediate reaction when the incident occurred was to say that it was dangerous, having looked at it subsequently, he agreed that it was not. We accordingly took no further action.”
Hamilton set the 13th fastest time in the session, while Albon was up in 10th for Williams with team-mate Carlos Sainz in fifth on a strong opening to the race weekend for the Grove squad.
Speaking about the Albon blocking incident after FP2, Williams team principal James Vowles told Sky Sports F1: “There’s certain portions of the track, it’s mainly between Turn 5 all the way to Turn 8, where you’re blind, you’re fully loaded on the car, and there’s not a lot you can do anymore.
“You can lift off, that’s about as much you can do, you certainly can’t brake. And that’s really what caused it. It’s not intentional from Ferrari, but let’s try and be stronger on it because we don’t want an accident.”
