[Lewis Hamilton Avoids Punishment for Albon Incident in FP2]

Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion, has managed to avoid any punishment following an incident with Alexander Albon during the second free practice session at the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Williams driver, Albon, initially labeled Hamilton’s positioning as “dangerous.

[Stewards Decision and Analysis]

After a thorough investigation involving discussions with both drivers, team representatives, and analysis of various data, the stewards decided that no further action was necessary against Hamilton. The document stated, “Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton) unnecessarily impeded Car 23 (Alexander Albon) during Practice 2 at Turn 17.

However, as agreed with the teams, unless the impeding during free practice was deemed dangerous, no penalty would be imposed. Albon, in his statement, confirmed that he had control of his car throughout the incident and while he was impeded, he did not consider the situation to be dangerous.

[Hamilton’s Performance and Team Response]

Hamilton ended the session with the 13th fastest time, while Albon was in 10th position for Williams, with teammate Carlos Sainz in fifth place. After the incident, team principal James Vowles expressed concern about such incidents, stating that they could potentially lead to accidents.

He emphasized that certain portions of the track, particularly between Turn 5 and Turn 8, are blind spots where drivers have limited control over their cars. Vowles urged for stronger adherence to rules to prevent such incidents in future practice sessions.