Alex Albon will go into the Australian Grand Prix weekend on the backfoot after picking up a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision with Lance Stroll in today’s Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.

Albon’s race in Jeddah had seen him briefly scrape into the points, but he fell to 12th after being passed by Lewis Hamilton and Kevin Magnussen, who were on fresher tyres.

With two laps to go, Stroll and Albon went into wheel to wheel combat on the run down to Turn 1, but the Thai driver misjudged the move on Stroll and slammed into the Canadian’s sidepod, sending him into a spin whilst Albon pulled over to the side of the track with a puncture ending a dismal weekend for Williams as they failed to score points for the ninth consecutive race weekend.

Because 90 per cent of the race had been completed at the time of the incident, Albon was classified in 14th place.

The stewards subsequently blamed Albon for the incident as they stated that his lock up when attempting to make the overtake had caused the collision with Stroll.

“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 23 (Alexander Albon), the driver of car 18 (Lance Stroll), team representatives and examined video evidence in relation to the collision.”

“Car 23 was attempting to overtake Car 18 on the inside by braking late. In executing the overtaking manoeuvre, Car 23 locked up and collided with Car 18 at the apex of the corner.” 

“We determined that Car 23 was wholly or predominantly to blame for the collision. Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Chapter 4 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.”

To add further insult to injury, Albon had two penalty points added to his superlicence because of the collision.