Alex Albon wants position swaps rather than time penalties to occur in Formula 1 when a driver makes an overtake off-track following the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Kevin Magnussen had been handed a 10-second penalty for making contact with Albon’s Williams at Turn 4 before then passing Yuki Tsunoda outside of track limits.
With the Dane then set to have 20 seconds added to his race time, Haas instructed Magnussen to slow his pace to allow Nico Hulkenberg to build a pit-stop advantage.
With Magnussen circulating up to two seconds slower but remaining ahead of the cars behind, his team-mate emerged in a net 10th position to claim the final point.
Amid Tsunoda’s chance of a point being dashed, RB labelled the tactics “unsportsmanlike” and confirmed its intention to hold discussions with the FIA over the matter.
Starting with Magnussen being penalised for not leaving him enough room at Turn 4 upon the restart, Albon believes the design of the circuit contributed to the clash.
“I think that was fair,” he said about the initial penalty. “It happens, a bit of a squeeze. I don’t like how that corner is shaped. 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 Anglo-Thai driver has taken issue with the second incident involving the Haas racer, citing that such schemes could become commonplace in the sport.
“The other one was a bit cheeky, the other 10-second one with Yuki,” he continued “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.”
Albon admits that he can understand the reasons for Haas utilising Magnussen’s unretrievable position in the race to help the sister VF-24 car bag a vital point.
With the nascent stages of the 2024 season seeing a chasm emerging between the top five teams and the rest, Albon reckons the lower sides will replicate Haas.
“You saw it this weekend. “I think any team would do the same thing, if you sacrifice one driver for guaranteed points,” he conceded.
“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.”
Albon was frustrated that the resultant front wing damage he inherited and Magnussen’s block prevented Williams from showcasing its full potential in Jeddah.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have the speed and we were carrying front wing damage as well, so we struggled to progress through the field,” he reviewed.
“We had a better race car than we showed today, so now the focus is on improving for Australia.”
