Lewis Hamilton labels Alex Albon crash 'racing incident' as Mercedes star pays penalty at Austrian Grand Prix

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Joe Krishnan5 July 2020

Lewis Hamilton has declared his crash with Alex Albon a "racing incident" and rued the "unfortunate scenario" which saw the two drivers collide again in the season opener at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Hamilton, who was handed a three-place grid penalty after the stewards ruled he had failed to slow down for yellow flags in qualifying, challenged his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas for the majority of the race.

After a series of retirements and incidents, the safety car was called out three times at the Red Bull Ring and Albon, on fresh tyres, made an audacious move on the 35-year-old and made it stick.

However, on the exit from Turn 3, Albon clipped Hamilton's front-left tyre and spun onto the gravel before later retiring due to a mechanical failure. Hamilton was later handed a five-second time penalty which ultimately saw him demoted to fourth after the race, with Bottas coming home in first.

And the six-time world champion was frustrated with how penalties derailed his first race of the season.

Hamilton and Albon clashed on track in Austria  Photo: POOL/AFP via Getty Images
POOL/AFP via Getty Images

"I don't really feel any way particularly right now," he told Sky Sports F1.

"The race is done and I just feel like moving forward. It's not been a great weekend for me and yesterday was entirely my fault. It was odd, for sure, today in the preparation to get a penalty but it is what it is.

"It didn't destabilise me, it just encouraged me to go out there and drive the best I could. I feel like I did, I had the pace to catch up with Valtteri and it was a really unfortunate scenario with me and Alex. I can't believe we've come together again but it really felt like a racing incident.

"Either way, I'll take whatever penalty they feel I deserve and move forward."

Albon, who has never finished on the podium in his short career, appeared to place the blame on Hamilton's shoulders after their second crash in three races - having collided at Brazil to again deny the Thai a spot on the podium.

"I'm a bit vexed right now, so I've got to be careful about what I say. It is what it is," he said.

"I really feel like we could have won that race. Mercedes had the outright pace today but the guys did a great job with strategy. The way it played out, it looked really strong for us and I knew, basically that they're on the hard tyres, so the first five laps I was going to do the overtake. I was confident, the car was feeling good at that stage of the race, but it's what it is.

"This one, I wouldn't say it hurts more but Brazil was a bit more 50-50. Today, I felt like I did the move already and I was already focused on going on ahead. There's always a risk of overtaking on the outside but I gave as much space as I really could. I was right on the edge. I knew as long as I gave him all the space I had to, it was up to him if he wants to crash or not.

"I'll cool off and I'll come back [to speak to Hamilton]."

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