Albon takes blame for Hamilton near-miss in Sochi FP2

Alexander Albon shouldered the blame for a near-miss with Lewis Hamilton during second practice for the Russian Grand Prix on Friday, admitting he had misjudged where the Mercedes was behind him.

Albon endured a tough Friday of running in Sochi as floor damage on his Red Bull RB15 car cost him track time in the afternoon, before hitting the track late in the session.

Hamilton slipped past Albon at the inside of Turn 3 in the closing stages of FP2, narrowly avoiding contact after gaining rapidly on the Red Bull that was on a slow lap.

Speaking about the incident after the session, Albon was happy to take the blame for it, saying he had been more focused on the gap to Valtteri Bottas in the sister Mercedes.

“To be honest I was hearing Bottas’ distance behind, so I kind of didn’t know that Lewis was right there behind,” Albon said.

“It was my mistake. It’s just one those things. Obviously the closing speed is quick and I didn’t see him.”

Albon finished FP2 down in 10th place after struggling to make the most of the track time he did get in.

“I had a bit of floor damage [in FP2] which was unfortunate and kind of delayed the whole thing,” Albon said.

“It was a bit of a mess to be honest, I tried out of trouble as best as I could but it was just a never-ending traffic jam. I wouldn’t say it was a competitive session.

“[It’s] just getting confidence in the car. If you are not comfortable with one corner here you aren’t comfortable with 20 of them. That explains the pace and I need to analyse it for tomorrow.”