Opinion: Hamilton wrongfully receives a penalty against Albon

In an action-packed race one of the major talking points was the battle between Alexander Albon and Lewis Hamilton which unfortunately ended in tears.

Albon spun around at turn four after he was tagged by Hamilton and Hamilton was awarded a five-second time penalty for the matter.

It cost Hamilton second place, moving Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris up the order. Who would have thought they would be on the podium prior to the race?

For Albon, his race would end with a terminal electrical issue.

But, Hamilton’s penalty was very harsh if not wrong by the stewards. For me it was a clear racing incident.

Albon was carrying more speed around the outside with a brilliant move whilst Hamilton was on the inside.

Hamilton did not open up the steering, he was not accelerating and he left more than enough room.

Those saying Albon could not be more on the outside are wrong. At the point of contact, Albon was not even fully on the red and white kerb.

It was genuine bad luck that Albon spun because if he was not carrying more speed than Hamilton at that point then the wheels would not have interlocked.

Why was Charles Leclerc given a black and white flag at Monza last year for intentionally moving his car to the right hand side of the track to make contact with Hamilton and force him off the track, yet Hamilton takes the normal racing line and leaves Albon space yet gets a penalty?

In fact, have we even seen the stewards use the black and white flag since the Italian Grand Prix last season? Not that I can remember.

What has happened to the, “let them race” approach from the stewards?

To me, both drivers made a misjudgement but you cannot say Hamilton was predominantly to blame when Albon had more room to his left and did not fully clear Hamilton – that is why I think the penalty was unfair.

Ultimately, the reason Albon and Hamilton made contact was because Albon got such a good exit on his fresh soft tyres. A racing incident with nobody to blame.