Red Bull team boss Christian Horner believes Lewis Hamilton should be asking questions of himself after he and Alexander Albon made contact for the second time in three races.
Albon had tried to pass Hamilton to claim second in the Austrian Grand Prix, but the pair tangled and Albon spun, dropping him to the rear of the field in what is an almost identical incident to Brazil last year – Hamilton was handed a five-second time penalty for both clashes.
Whilst Hamilton accepted blame and apologised to Albon in Brazil, he doesn’t feel as though he deserved a penalty in Austria, calling it a ‘racing incident’ – Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff called the penalty “harsh” – but Horner reckons the six-time Formula 1 World Champion needs to question is racecraft.
“Be careful!” Horner replied when asked what advice he would give to Albon next time the pair meet on-track. “Alex didn’t have the straight line speed, so he knew he had, with the grip advantage, to pass him in or out of a corner.
“As far as he was concerned, the job was done. He was starting to look down the road towards Valtteri [Bottas] when Lewis put a wheel on the inside. So I think it is more perhaps Lewis that the questions should be asked on what he would do differently.”
Asked he agreed with Wolff’s assessment that it was a harsh penalty, Horner added: “Alex had won the corner, and was on the exit of the corner.
“Why Lewis needed to stick a wheel in there, I have no idea. It’s obviously frustrating for Alex that this is the second time in three races that this has happened to him.
“It was unfortunate, because I think he would have had a chance to win the race.”
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