Alexander Albon, Kevin Magnussen, Silverstone, 2020

Albon disagrees with stewards’ decision on Magnussen incident

2020 British Grand Prix

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Alexander Albon says the responsibility for his first lap collision with Kevin Magnussen was “50-50” between the two drivers.

However the stewards ruled Albon “was predominantly at fault” incident at Club corner which put Magnussen out of the race and handed the Red Bull driver a five-second time penalty.

“The penalty, it was 50-50 to me,” said Albon. “Kevin went off the track and the way he came on, there was a space there initially.

“At that point I realised he doesn’t see me or the gap’s closing very quickly. I tried to get away from it but at that closing speed it was just too much.”

The contact left Albon with some damage on his car, but he was able to recover to finish eighth.

“We had the damage, which was a shame. But the pace throughout the race wasn’t too bad. Just obviously we had to do a lot this weekend. So eighth, it’s not what I want, but it’s damage limitation.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also took his driver’s side over the collision and praised his recovery driver into the points.

“For me that was a racing incident. If you look at it from the beginning, Kevin made a mistake, he got out wide, Alex put his nose in there and then he sort of backed out of it a little bit. It was one of those things. I wasn’t too surprised with the penalty, it could have gone either way.

“But I thought his recovery from there was excellent. We’ve seen it on numerous occasions, his a ability to come back through the field, and his pace in the race was very good.

“We just need to have a straightforward, boring weekend for him. But I thought today, once again, he’s driven a very strong grand prix.”

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42 comments on “Albon disagrees with stewards’ decision on Magnussen incident”

  1. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    3rd August 2020, 12:42

    The speed differential was so great I can see why this caught Albon out. So I’m tempted to call it a racing incident. However it really isn’t a place to stick your nose.

    1. @rdotquestionmark Indeed. It was Magnussen who started it by clipping the kerb and losing balance. But Albon took a massive risk by sticking his nose there. It was a racing incident in my view but a very avoidable incident.

    2. Definitely a racing incident, but I also think that the penalty was fair.

      This one looked a lot like like Hamilton’s Brazil move. Probably should have waited, but these drivers brains are wired to exploit those fleeting openings.

      1. I do wonder if people would be more critical if it was another driver who hit Kevin instead of Albon.

        If, for example, it had been Grosjean trying the same move as Albon did, how many would be saying “it’s an unfair penalty”? How much more likely would fans be critical of him and say “he’s an idiot for sticking his nose in there”? Would people complain more about Albon if he’d hit a more popular driver instead?

        1. Of course. Even for a better site like this, principle rarely applies.

      2. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
        3rd August 2020, 20:21

        Agree with both comments

  2. Albon is shortsighted and impatient 4th weekend and 4th crash.

  3. Albon lifted or braked. If he’d kept going I think it would have looked better (just a tyre mark on the sidepod) and both could have continued.

    1. Moreover, if he had not stepped on the brakes he would have been half alongside at the moment of the contact and it would have been abundantly clear that it was a 50-50 incident. He has been penalized for trying to avoid the crash while Magnussen did nothing to avoid it.

      I agree with him that the ruling was wrong. But we have seen worse in the recent past. It was nowhere as shocking as in the Stroll-Ricciardo incident.

  4. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    3rd August 2020, 12:49

    This all started with Albon in Brazil and has continued since then. He seems to have a very different standard for what he’s allowed to do on the track when he overtakes and what others can do to defend. It’s almost like he’s playing a videogame where the rest of the people in the vehicles aren’t actual people.

    I’m not sure that Lap 1 is the right moment to risk your race away there especially against a driver like Kevin. More than likely the Haas would have scored no points.

  5. Great he is gonna keep driving recklessly

  6. I think Kevin is making sure he doesn’t close the door so hard next time. He could gues with his bad exit that someone was next to him. If he kept a sliver of room he would still racing and probally ahead of Albon as he lifted.

    1. @macleod But this is classic Magnussen. People should know by now.

  7. Denise Harris-Edwards
    3rd August 2020, 13:27

    With regard to all drivers not taking the knee, I disagree Hamilton that they should all do it, each can support the movement in their own way, and I completely agree, black lives DO matter, but equally I would argue that ALL lives matter.

    1. 2 things @denise

      Fisrtly, whats this got to do with an Albon – Magnaussen collision?
      Secondly, that you feel the need (as with anyone who does) to raise the “all lives matter” response to the BLM message, just demonstrates that you don’t get it. Nobody is suggesting that all lives don’t matter, of course they do…. in fact, no lives matter more, or matter less than any other. The point is however, that white lives are not being taken, or beaten, by the forces that are empowered to protect

      As a white bloke, I don’t get targeted by the police just because of the colour of my skin. I don’t get stopped on the presumption that I am carrying something I shouldn’t, or that I have done or am about to do something I shouldn’t, or that just because I am white, that means I am a danger to them or to society. I am also not likely to be shot in my sleep by the police

  8. So how come Albon didn’t think Lewis’s move was 50-50 3 weeks ago then??? lol Similar contact MORE damage but he’s not to blame.. Yeah right!!

    1. +1
      He can’t have it his own way all the time. First he moans about Brazil before admiting it was infact a 50/50. Then he moans about Hamilton in Austria, but want’s to call it a 50/50 when he does a very simmilar thing. If anything Hamilton left much more room in Austria than he did at Silverstone.

      My main problem with his driving is they could all have been avoided but he seems to struggle to get his positioning right.

      In Brazil he left the inside line so wide open that it almost looked like he was letting Hamilton past. In Austria he put his car on the outside of Hamilton which isn’t going to end well 9/10 times. He had more kerb to use but chose to come back onto the track. In Silverstone he again put his car into a strange position.

      If he had some raw pace to back up these mistakes then I could forgive him but so far he’s struggled to get close to Verstappen apart from Japan qualifying. He’s always .5 or more behind which at this level just isn’t good enough. He’s shown no real improvements and hasn’t even got a podium when his team mate has several and was figiting for wins at the end of last season and even yesterday.

    2. I think you have it backwards. The Austria crash was at corner exit while this one was on corner entry (they collided at the apex). At corner exit, the outside driver is on the right side. On corner entry, the inside driver is on the right side.

    3. Exactly. This was Karma. If anything, the Austria bit was 55/45 towards Albon, because Hamilton was on the same line coming out that he was on going in– and passing on the outside is never easy.

  9. Honestly I think that’s quite silly. It’s not 50-50. Magnussen went off, Albon took the line, Magnussen gave him no space. 70-30 Magnussen’s fault at worst.

    1. +10. MAG is an average driver in a less than average car. Taking risks for him is inconsequential. Terrible call by the stewards. As previously said, MAG clipped the previous curb, went wide, lost speed. In the FIRST LAP of the race, he knows, someone would be there. 80% MAG’s fault.

      1. I go back and forth a bit but I think it’s at least a 50-50. Similar to when Vettel went off in Canada, he could not just dive back on track and take a harshly defensive posture when you know someone will be coming at you very quickly. You are saying, slam on the brakes or hit me because I’m putting my out of control, slow car right back in you way.

        1. The silly thing is, KMag is so wide because of his issue in the chicane he could still have made the corner leaving the space on the inside for Albon without losing exit speed. If Albon had have pushed him off on the exit I’d say penalty fair enough, but it only looked his fault because he knew a split second before the apex that KMag didn’t look and he tried to back out.

          Unsure why the haters are saying it’s like any of the Hamilton incidents. At Brazil Lewis was further away and tagged him, and in Austria he unwound the steering before Albon was fully passed him even though it was pretty clear Albon was past him.

          In fact I’m unsure why people are hating full stop. We’re not talking de Cesaris, Maldonado or Grosjean mk1 here.

          I’d say 50/50 is being generous to KMag – his driving was more similar to Vettel in Canada than Lewis in Brazil.

        2. Magnussen didn’t leave the track though and is entitled to take the corner without someone ramming into the side of him because he didn’t want to use his brakes. Not similar to Vettel at all and Magnussen was only to blame for giving him the opportunity, not for causing the crash.

          1. He was still off of the racing line though and that’s the point. I don’t know why they were saying he left the track as he clearly didn’t, but he should have realised how much time his mistake had cost him and knowing how close the cars all were to each other at the start of the race he should at least look, and leave room which he could easily have done.

    2. geoffgroom44 (@)
      3rd August 2020, 20:49

      it is consistently reported by media commentators who are knee deep in F1, that MAG left the track. However, when I slomo the video it is clear there was masses of space for any following driver to push forward.
      The fact that this was not a ‘normal move’ on that corner has little to do with it, we applaud the brilliance of drivers who do not do ‘the normal thing’.
      so, what exactly is wrong with the philosophy ‘see a gap, go for it?’. I thought that was what F1 racing was about.
      This also begs the question in my mind, as I look at the enormous amount of space available for MAG, why he either did not,or could not, use the available space

  10. I think the penalty was harsh. Looking at Albons on board, he did not make a sudden death lunge, all he did was hold the racing line and as Magnussen cut back over and left him no where to go, except onto the grass, Albon clearly backed off (had he not, I would have been a much messier result).

    Magnussen should have been aware that Albon was there and was momentarily visible in the cockpit camera of Magnussen prior to the incident. Nothing more than a racing incident.

  11. Albon has space awareness issues. And that happened every time he got to deal with a much faster or slower car.
    Bring Gasly back!

    1. LOL. Kvyat can not handle too many buttons in the steering wheel and gets distracted. Gasly deficit to MAX was way larger than Albon’s. The truth is: under pressure to be closer to MAX’s pace, every 2nd driver at RBR cracks. Albon is the best one.

      1. geoffgroom44 (@)
        3rd August 2020, 20:52

        agreed svianna
        and,Edvaldo, when AA came from the back of the field,overtaking many others, that were ‘much faster or slower cars’ as you put it, was his spacial awareness at fault then? You know, those laps where he was matching the winners lap times. You know those laps where he was setting fastest lap times.

  12. Comments are broken on Firefox. You can’t reply on a comment, only at the bottom of the article. Everything is fine on Chrome.

    1. @paeschli What’s that got to do with Albon?

      (successfully replied using Edge Chromium)

    2. You have it backwards.
      Kmag just straight up ignored his mirrors after going wide on lap 1 and thought nobody is going to be on the inside.

      That’s what i’d call lack of spatial and situational awareness

  13. I really like Albon so hope he rebounds strongly after this. The 2nd Red Bull seat is one of the hottest anywhere atm so he’s definitely feeling the pressure.

    My opinion is that it was a racing incident, but in a way, Magnussen’s reputation precedes him when it comes to on track contact and Albon hasn’t exactly been incident free as of late, so I’m not surprised a verdict was handed down.

  14. Albon is a massive liability. Every race he collides with someone.

    1. geoffgroom44 (@)
      5th August 2020, 8:31

      yep. you got that right. It takes only 1 car to make a collision. no other cars ever collide with Albon or try to restrict his manoeuvres. Lewis never collided with Albon! (which is why Lewis apologised, saying, ‘hey Man I’m really sorry I didn’t collide with you today’
      action replay:do you remember the Verstappen Rules? Do you remember that Max was compared with Ayrton Senna because of his aggressive and often unorthodox style of driving?
      So,mralexbarr,out of how many Albon collisions has Albon been penalised by the stewards?

  15. Who’s to blame for the incident is one thing, but it’s quite another to ask the question if Albon needed to be that opportunistic so early in the race. I mean, it’s a freaking Haas.. he would have got him a corner of two later. The same question can be asked on the Albon-Hamilton incident in Austria.

  16. Racing incident.

  17. it is obvious that a rule is needed here ; if you run wide you cannot not leave enough room for a following car by still trying to make the apex ; kmag could have done that easily ; if there is a rule everyone who runs wide knows what to do, leave room !
    0 percent fault by albon for me

    1. I’d say 50/50 or 60/40 but only because Albon backed off and that put his car behind, therefore it contravened the rules. Once he had committed, it was a mistake to back out too late. If he had remained level or been just ahead, kMag would have been the one getting the penalty he deserved for his usual “ZERO spatial awareness”

    2. geoffgroom44 (@)
      5th August 2020, 8:22

      I totally agree.Mag had deviated from the racing line, running wide, arguing (yet again) with the kerbs -Mag has a habit of getting into trouble when attempting to correct a misjudgement or error. (https://youtu.be/9ga4wtX3BvI)

      Albon said it right “I don’t know where he expected me to go”. And the F1 TV commentators were clear that Albon had the right to try for that space and that KMag arguing with the kerb, ‘lost his rhythm and tried to correct’.

      What fascinates me is the stewards ruling that Albon’s was an ‘unusual’ move. I would welcome anyone on these chatboards telling me what are the ‘usual moves’ made by race winners. By definition, a winner is someone who does the unusual,huh?

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