LEWIS BACK WITH A BANG
Season-opening crash costs Hamilton a chance of victory
LEWIS HAMILTON yesterday railed against the penalty which cost him a chance of victory in the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix.
Britain’s six-time world champion was demoted from second place after being handed a five-second sanction for colliding with Red Bull’s Alexander Albon, right, in the closing stages.
It was the second time in three races the pair have collided after
Hamilton was also penalised for hitting Albon at last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix. This time Hamilton, whose Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas celebrated a deserved win in Spielberg, was classified in fourth.
He had earlier been relegated to fifth on the grid for a yellow flag
infringement in qualifying. Hamilton said: “I can’t believe we’ve come together again but it really felt like a racing incident.
“Either way, I’ll take whatever penalty they feel I deserve and move forward.
“The race is done and I just feel like moving forward. It’s not been a great weekend for me and Saturday was entirely my fault.
“It was odd, for sure, in the preparation to get a penalty but it is what it is.
“It didn’t destabilise me, it just encouraged me to go out there and drive the best I could. “I feel like I did, I had the pace to catch up with Valtteri and it was a really unfortunate scenario with me and Alex.”
Albon said: “I am a bit depressed right now so I have to be careful what I say. I really felt like I could have won the race. “Mercedes had the outright pace but the guys did a great job with the strategy.
“There is always the risk of overtaking on the outside but I gave it as much space as I could.
“I was on the edge – if I gave him all the space I could, it is up to him if he wants to crash.”
Charles Leclerc climbed into second while Lando Norris, above, also benefited from his fellow Briton’s mistake as he was promoted on to the podium for the first time in his career.
Norris, at 20 the youngest driver in the race and now the youngest Briton to stand on an F1 podium, also claimed a bonus point for the fastest lap.
The McLaren driver said: “I am speechless. There were a few points in the race where I thought I had fudged it up.”