Alex Albon’s quip over Sergio Perez collision, questions if penalty was ‘fair’

Alex Albon has joked journalists should ask Yuki Tsunoda for his thoughts on Sergio Perez after the Red Bull driver wrecked both their races in Singapore.

On a nightmare weekend for Red Bull, Perez compounded the situation when he crashed into Tsunoda at the start, leaving the AlphaTauri driver with a puncture that forced him to retire the car.

He was back in the wars in the closing laps of the race as he chased down Albon as the two of them raced for points.

Sergio Perez cost Alex Albon points in Singapore

But trying several lunges on the Williams driver, Albon was not impressed with that and called him“f***ing dirty”, the last one failed with Perez crashing into his rival at the tight left-hander after the Anderson Bridge.

Albon briefly came to a stop on the track, lucky to avoid the barrier, but it was enough to punt him out of the points with the driver crossing the line down in 12th place.

Perez was later hit with a five-second penalty and penalty points on his super licence.

Albon at the time spoke of his disappointment at losing out on vital points forWilliams, disappointment he still feels although he has moved past his anger towards Perez.

Asked if the Red Bull driver was back on his Christmas card list, he said in Thursday’s FIA driver press conference: “You should ask Yuki that as well!

“It was a bit disappointing, of course, in the race last week. Points for us, especially as they come long and far away from each other, so not to be able to score points was a bit of a shame.

“But all forgiven.

“We’re going to Suzuka now, a track that should play a bit more into our car.

“But yeah it was disappointing, more because we didn’t have many hopes going into Singapore last weekend. So to be in a position where we could have almost scored points was exciting.

“And then normally as long as we kept on track, we would have scored some points but we didn’t.”

PlanetF1.com建议

F1 2023: Head-to-head qualifying and race stats between team-mates

F1 penalty points: One driver punished in Singapore

Albon questions if Perez penalty was ‘fair’

The driver also weighed in on Perez’s five-second penalty, one that had no impact on the driver’s result as his gap to Liam Lawson was more than five seconds.

So while Perez scored three points on the day, Albon didn’t score any.

“I think it’s quite a tricky one. Consistency, we push on it a lot as drivers, as teams as well and viewers, but it’s a tricky one,” he said.

“For example, you can take my incident with Checo when he has a five-second penalty. It’s consistent with everything else, but is it really consistent? Fair? Maybe not.

“So I do think there needs to be flexibility in some ways.”

Williams boss warns Perez’s antics could hurt Williams in the championship

Williams team boss James Vowles fears Perez’s antics in Singapore, which cost Albon two if not three points,could hurt Williams come the end of the season.

Vowles told Motorsport.com: “It is frustrating that when you’re in a championship that’s being fought down to the point, and you’re leading against your direct rivals in this championship, to have it taken away from you hurts. And without good reason either.

“It was a lunge – there are sensible ways of overtaking and that was not the way to do it. For a number of laps prior Perez was very much on the inside and trying to put his nose there. That in itself isn’t a problem, you’ve got to do aggressive techniques.

“But Alex had already committed to the turn-in point. And it’s overlapping at the back and it was contact into the sidepod. There was no way that was going to work.

“So it’s incredibly frustrating. You are into fine, fine margins. And this could be what decides the championship positions.”

Williams remain seventh in theConstructors’ Championshipbut both AlphaTauri and Haas took points out of them in Singapore.

Read next:Former F1 driver worried Lewis Hamilton will miss out on eighth title after Mercedes extension