The collision with Albon, a simple racing incident for Hamilton
After a total domination during the free practice sessions, Lewis Hamilton ultimately did not win this Sunday: the reigning world champion's race was marked by a collision with Alexander Albon. The Briton downplays the incident but still accepts his penalty, which dropped him from 2nd to 4th place.
The first race of the season ends the same way it did in Brazil last year: Lewis Hamilton and Alexander Albon have collided once again!
On the 62nd lap, after the third restart post-Safety Car, the Red Bull driver attempted an overtake on the outside in turn 3: a maneuver ending in a collision and a spin for Albon.
If Lewis Hamilton was able to continue, with a 2nd place becoming 4th after a 5-second penalty, the six-time world champion expressed his regrets to the Sky Sports microphone, notably accepting his sanction. But for him, this off-track excursion is simply a “racing incident.”
« With Alex, it was an unfortunate scenario, I can’t believe we collided again but it was really a racing incident. I accept the penalty they think I deserve and we will move forward. »
Hamilton: « I can’t believe we collided again, but it was really a racing incident. »
In hindsight, after narrowly missing pole position to Valtteri Bottas on Saturday, the Briton’s Sunday was much more complicated! Firstly, Red Bull challenged the disregard for yellow flags in Q3, which resulted in a three-place grid penalty for Hamilton.
Then, the Mercedes was not as reliable as hoped. Like Bottas, Hamilton was unable to attack the curbs during the second half of the Grand Prix.
Finally, the three Safety Car interventions generated quite a bit of stress. Especially the last one, which prevented him from changing tires for the end of the race. This allowed Alex Albon to get back into the fight for the win… before that collision.
Despite everything, Lewis Hamilton remains calm and looks ahead to the next race, also held at the Red Bull Ring next Sunday:
« I don’t have any particular feeling at the moment, the race is over and I just want to move forward »
He is relatively optimistic about the technical issues encountered during the race.
I don’t know if they will be able to solve the problems in three days, they have succeeded in the past. They are already working on a solution.
If Mercedes is the team to beat this year, it remains to be seen how the reigning world champion will climb back next Sunday for the Styrian Grand Prix.
