Brazilian GP | Alexander Albon misses his first podium because of Lewis Hamilton: "He didn't do it on purpose"
The rookie driver was about to be on podium for the first time in his career, but a contact with the six time world champion destroyed his race.
Alexander Albon could've been the shining star of the Brazilian Grand Prix, but things didn't work out for the thai.
The Red Bull driver performed perfectly all through the race and was about to take his first career podium finish, following his team mate Max Verstappen, but Lewis Hamilton hit him right after the restart of the second Safety Car period.
The thai qualified 6th but started 5th, thanks to Charles Leclerc penalty, and concluded his race with a two pit-stop race strategy: from Soft to medium, to Soft once again. He raced stable in the top 6, until the Ferrari crash, when he reached third position. Hamilton tried to take the position from him, but touched him: his Red Bull spun and, because of the traffic (the midfield ewas packed because of the restart after the SC) he came back in 14th position.
A big shame for him, who saw, then, Pierre Gasly going up to the podium, celebrating his first top 3 finish.
“Of course I’m frustrated but I’m not angry, I’m just upset. I wanted that podium and we deserved it as it was on merit. At the Safety Car restart we had some fun and I enjoyed battling with the Ferraris, the overtake felt good!" Alex said right after the race.
"Obviously Lewis had good grip once he pitted and I think he would’ve got me eventually into Turn 1, but I thought worst case scenario we had P3. I had a good gap to Lewis and I wasn’t worrying about him. I went into the corner deep just to cover him so he didn’t get any ideas, and then there’s a blind spot and obviously we made contact. Of course he didn’t do it on purpose, it’s just one of those things and today wasn’t meant to be. It’s done now and we’ll focus on the positives before the next race. Congratulations also to Max, he drove really well and deserved the win.”
Lewis Hamilton apologized to Albon as soon as he stepped out of his Mercedes: he did get the chance to celebrate on podium, but knew a penalty was coming: 5 seconds for him, as the conctact was similar to the one happened in the earliest laps of the race between Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen.
Albon loses the chance to be on podium for the first time, but considering Honda's pace in Brazil, he will get one very soon.
