17/03/2024
NEWS STORY
Alex Albon fears that without FIA intervention others may now copy the ploy used by Haas and Kevin Magnussen in Jeddah in using a penalty in order to gain an advantage.
At the restart following the withdrawal of the Safety Car after Lance Stroll's crash, the Dane collided with Alex Albon at Turn 4, the stewards deeming that in giving the Williams driver insufficient space warranted 10s penalty and 3 penalty points.
But wait, there's more.
In the same incident, the Haas driver sought to overtake Yuki Tsunoda and in the process left the track, failing to give the position back the stewards deemed he had therefore gained a lasting advantage and hit him with another 10s penalty.
With the 20s handicap effectively ruling him out of the race, Magnussen was ordered to ride shotgun for his teammate Nico Hulkenberg and slow the field behind in order that the German might build a sufficient comfort cushion.
The ploy worked and Hulkenberg finished tenth, 12s ahead of Albon who came home 17s ahead of the second Haas.
"Magnussen drove off the track to deliberately put himself in front of Yuki and then slowed him down by up to two seconds a lap," argued RB's sporting director, Alan Permane, "which allowed Hulkenberg, who hadn't stopped yet, to create a gap and of course pit in front of all the cars behind.
"That, to me, doesn't seem correct," he added, "and is the very definition of unsportsmanlike behaviour. I'm sure we and other teams will talk to the FIA about it for future races."
"It was pretty frustrating," admitted Tsunoda, "probably my mistake was I let Kevin by. But at the same time, he overtook me with all four wheels outside off the track.
"OK, he got a 20-second penalty but he was just cruising around," added the Japanese. "That's a bit unfair but at the same time, the truth is I also let him go, so that was my mistake."
However, Albon fears that with the Haas tactic going unpunished others may adopt the same ploy.
"That was fair," he said about the penalty for the collision. "It happens, a bit of a squeeze...
"I don't like how that corner is shaped," he added. "It sticks out to you. I think it's very misleading. You've got to leave more space than you realise, because of how it sticks out at the end there. They could just shave it flat, I think that would be easier. No hard feelings."
However...
"The other one was a bit cheeky," added the Williams driver, "the other 10-second one with Yuki. I mean, you basically guarantee your team-mate points for a 10-second penalty. Why wouldn't you do that everywhere?
"I don't think five to 10 seconds is correct. I think it needs to be you must return the position back, and just leave it like that."
That said, the Thai star understands that with such a tight, competitive midfield, teams are going to take advantage of any opportunity that comes their way.
"You saw it this weekend. I think any team would do the same thing, if you sacrifice one driver for guaranteed points. Maybe the top teams won't do it. But the midfield teams who need to take points at any opportunity, you would do it every single time. I think you might see more drivers doing it just to guarantee a team-mate to have points."