Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff is of the opinion that the decision to punish Lewis Hamilton for a collision with Alex Albon for five seconds at the Austrian Grand Prix was not justified.
The incident was the key to deciding the outcome of the race. Hamilton fell from second to fourth place due to the penalty and Albon turned into the gravel and fell onto the back of the field.
Albon, who had fresher tires, tried to overtake Hamilton for second place on turn 4 and was ahead of the Mercedes when the couple contacted them. In the collision, he turned into the gravel, while Hamilton was able to continue in second place.
The stewards gave the reason for the five-second penalty added to the checkered flag at Hamilton’s racing time and said, “They negotiated the corner side by side, but car 23 [Albon] had a better exit and was about to pass car 44 [Hamilton]. The car 44 drove out at the exit of curve 4 and thus touched the rear right wheel of car 23, causing the car 23 to spin.
“The stewards found that the driver of Auto 44 was primarily responsible for the collision.”
Wolff said he looked back at the video and, although it wasn’t easy to admit the stewards’ work, he disagreed with their analysis.
“From my point of view, I would say that the five seconds were too hard,” he said. “We watched the video a couple of times now and Lewis was full [steering] Lock in the corner and Albon still had about 40 percent of the way to make the turn.
“It was different from [an incident on] Round one, in which Lewis had to get out of Albon to push Lewis, was not justified in my opinion. But I understand the complexity of the job [of the stewards] and some go for you and some go against you. “
Red Bull boss Christian Horner took a different view and said Hamilton owes Albon an apology: “The passport was made, it wasn’t as if it was at the entrance or whatever. Which overtaking is safe at the end of the day? Me doubt Lewis would wave him over.
“We had to take advantage of this grip and the grip is in the corners. He did. It was just a misjudgment for Lewis at the end of the day, and it would be good if he apologized for it.”
Albon said he did not expect contact and it was up to Hamilton to avoid a collision.
“I was kind of focused [Valtteri] Bottas in front, “he said.” It was so late, the contact.
“I think there’s always a danger of overtaking from the outside, but I’ve given as much space as I really could, I’ve been on the edge. I thought if I gave him as much space as I could give him, it would be it up to him whether he wants to crash or not and yes … “
It is the second time that Albon and Hamilton have collided on the track after contact between the two brought Albon out of the Brazilian Grand Prix last year. While apologizing to Albon for the previous incident, Hamilton believed that none of the drivers was primarily responsible for the Sunday clash.
“It was a really unfortunate situation with Alex – I can’t believe we got back together,” he said. “It really felt like a racing event.
“But either way I’ll take whatever punishment they deserve and go forward.”
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