Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton will face no further action after an FIA investigation into an impeding incident involving Williams’ Alex Albon in FP2 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
It came after Albon acknowledged on reflection that the incident was not dangerous, having described it as “f***ing dangerous” over team radio in the heat of the moment.Lewis Hamilton escapes penalty after Alex Albon near miss
With just under 50 minutes remaining in the session, stewards noted that Hamilton impeded Albon’s Williams at the high-speed Turn 18.
Formula 1 is visiting the Jeddah Corniche Circuit this weekend for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and already in practice, the tight nature of the purpose-built street circuit have caught some drivers out.
Jeddah is a 27-turn track, though most of those turns are flowing and can be taken at high speed. With the track surface lined by concrete walls, visibility is one of the biggest challenges — which means that it’s especially important for drivers and engineers to be communicative on the radio to inform one another of the proximity to other cars.
That wasn’t the case in FP2, when an incident between Hamilton and Alex Albon nearly resulted in a crash.
Albon was on a hot lap in his Williams, and as he zipped into Turn 18, he found a slow-moving SF-25 of Hamilton in his way.
Albon had to brake hard, twitching the steering wheel in order to avoid making contact.
Albon immediately hopped on the radio the lambast the move as being “f***ing dangerous.”
With his momentum arrested, he slowed down and allowed a gap to build between himself and the slow-moving Hamilton.
The FIA noted the incident almost immediately, but an investigation after the session found no grounds for further action with the governing body revealing that Albon disagreed with his own earlier assessment that it was dangerous after studying replays.
A verdict read: “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.
“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.
“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.”
It’s been a hectic weekend so far. FP1 took place in the final daylight hours in Saudi Arabia, with Alex Albon wrapping the session in fifth and Hamilton down in eighth.
FP2 came to a close with Albon in 10th and Hamilton in 13th, with McLaren driver Lando Norris setting the pace.
