British GP F1 stewards penalised Albon for “unusual” move

Formula 1’s stewards penalised Red Bull driver Alex Albon for an “unusual and difficult to execute” move on Kevin Magnussen at the British Grand Prix.

Albon was handed a five-second time penalty and two penalty points on his license for causing a collision with Magnussen which ultimately ended the Haas driver’s race.

The pair came to blows at Club corner at the end of the first lap after Magnussen had run wide and lost momentum coming out of the Vale chicane. Albon looked to snatch the position with a dive up the inside but inadvertently punted the Dane off into the gravel.

Explaining their decision to penalise Albon, the stewards concluded: “The stewards reviewed video evidence and determined that Albon was predominantly at fault for the collision at turn 18 [Club].

“Passes at turn 18 are unusual and difficult to execute. While Albon appeared to be the faster car the Stewards determined that he attempted the pass too late and the gap on the inside of car 20 [Magnussen] was always going to diminish.

“It appeared that he attempted to back out of the pass at the last second. The stewards took into account that Magnussen had a slower exit from Turn 17.”

Albon, who capitalised on the late drama to bag points in eighth place, felt the incident was a “50-50”.

“The penalty was 50-50 to me,” Albon said. “Kevin went off the track and the way he came back on, there was the space there initially.

“Then I realised ‘okay he doesn’t see me’ and the gap was closing really quickly and I tried to get away from it but at that closing speed it was just too much.

“Obviously we had the damage which was a shame but the pace throughout the race wasn’t too bad. We were a little fortunate with the punctures to get there [in the points].

“We had to do a lot this weekend, so P8 - I mean it’s not what I want - but it’s damage limitation.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner echoed Albon’s comments and praised his driver’s recovery, adding: “For me it was a racing incident.

“Kevin’s made a mistake he’s got out wide on the kerb there, and Alex has sort of committed then he’s backed out of it. The five-second time penalty was probably fair at the end of the day so that’s what we got.

“But then his recovery after that, he drove a great race today to recover right from the back of the field to come back through for P8 with some great passing again, the last couple of laps were really exciting.”