Lewis Hamilton escapes penalty for FP2 incident with Alex Albon

Lewis Hamilton hasn’t been penalised for impeding Alex Albon during second practice for the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Hamilton blocked Albon, who was on a fast lap at the time, in the early stages of FP2 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

The seven-time world champion was driving slowly on the racing line on the approach to Turn 17.

Albon was forced to back off, ruining his lap entirely.

The incident was quickly put under investigation by the stewards.

Unsurprisingly, Hamilton has avoided picking up a penalty due to the stewards taking a lenient approach when it comes to practice. 

Had it been in qualifying, Hamilton would have likely received a grid penalty.

Explaining why Hamilton wasn’t penalised, the stewards noted: “However, as agreed with the teams, unless the impeding during free practice was such that it could be regarded as dangerous, there will be no penalty for such impeding.

“During the hearing, the driver of Car 23 felt that he had the car under control at all times and while he was impeded, he did not consider the situation to be dangerous. He had seen Car 44 in front of him during the corner before.

“However, he did not expect Car 44 to be in the position on track that he was in and that shocked the driver of Car 23 as he approached Turn 17 and had to take evasive action.

“While his immediate reaction when the incident occurred was to say that it was dangerous, having looked at it subsequently, he agreed that it was not. We accordingly took no further action.”

It was a tough second practice session for Hamilton, who ended up 13th in the final order.

He was over six-tenths slower than Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who was fourth fastest.