The Styrian Grand Prix saw a highly controversial incident between Sergio Perez and Alexander Albon. Perez, driving for Red Bull Racing, attempted to overtake Albon, who was in a Williams car, into the sharp Turn 13 left-hander. The move resulted in contact between the two drivers, causing Albon to lock up his tires and go off the racing line to avoid crashing into the outside wall.
Both drivers were summoned in front of the FIA race stewards to discuss the incident. After careful consideration, the stewards found that Perez’s move up the inside was an “optimistic late manoeuvre that could be defined as ‘diving in’.” They also noted that Albon, being in 11th place, was unaware of Perez’s precise location and was attempting to take the normal racing line through the corner.
As a result, Perez was considered predominantly at fault for the collision and received a five-second penalty and a point added to his FIA superlicence. However, he was able to retain his eighth-place finish in the final classification as his closest competitor, AlphaTauri substitute Liam Lawson, finished more than 13 seconds behind him.
Albon expressed his disappointment with the incident, stating that he was running in 9th place and was about to overtake Lawson for 8th when Perez made the dive-bomb move into Turn 13. The collision caused Albon to go straight into the wall, forcing him to reverse out and drop to 13th place. He eventually finished in 11th position, missing out on valuable points.
The stewards also took into account the presence of Liam Lawson, the AlphaTauri substitute, in the incident. They believed that Lawson’s slower pace led Perez to believe that an overtake was possible. Based on this, they decided that only one penalty point was appropriate for Perez’s aggressive move.
Interestingly, the stewards cleared Albon of any wrongdoing in the incident. There were allegations that he had overtaken Perez under virtual safety car conditions, but upon investigation, it was determined that the timing system could not definitively prove which car arrived at the second safety car line first. Video evidence was inconclusive as well. Both teams involved chose not to lobby for a penalty, and the stewards agreed.
Perez’s race was marred by unfortunate incidents. On lap one, he collided with Yuki Tsunoda, causing damage to his front wing endplate. This incident occurred on Tsunoda’s blind spot, and Perez believes that the young driver did not see him. These early setbacks made it a challenging race for Perez and his team.
The incident between Perez and Albon at the Styrian Grand Prix was highly controversial. The race stewards determined that Perez’s aggressive move and lack of awareness from Albon contributed to the collision. While Perez received a penalty and an additional point on his superlicence, he was able to retain his eighth-place finish. Albon, on the other hand, expressed his frustration at missing out on potential points due to the incident. This incident serves as a reminder of the fine line between bold overtakes and dangerous maneuvers in Formula 1.
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