Alex Albon is concerned that Kevin Magnussen's “cheeky” move on Yuki Tsunoda in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix could spark a trend of tactical off-track passing in Formula 1.
During the race’s Safety Car restart on lap 10, Albon was on the receiving end of an aggressive maneuver by Magnussen, a move for which the Haas driver was handed a 10-second penalty by the stewards.
Several laps later, with his own race compromised, Magnussen overtook Tsunoda by running off-track. He then proceeded to deliberately slow the latter and all those behind to allow his Haas teammate Nico Hulkenberg up ahead to build up a cushion that would give him a free pitstop.
The strategy worked like a charm, with Hulkenberg claiming the final point of the day
While Albon didn't object to the initial incident with Magnussen, he expressed frustration with the leniency of the penalty levied upon the Dane for his brazen off-track pass on Tsunoda.
"I think that was fair,” he said, commenting on his early run-in with K-Mag. "It happens, a bit of a squeeze. I don't like how that corner is shaped. It sticks out to you. And I think it's very misleading.
“You've got to leave more space than you realise, because of how it sticks out at the end there. They could just shave it flat, I think that would be easier. No hard feelings.
“The other one was a bit cheeky, the other 10-second one with Yuki. I mean, you basically guarantee your teammate points for a 10-second penalty.
“Why wouldn't you do that everywhere? I don't think five to 10 seconds is correct. I think it needs to be you must return the position back, and just leave it like that.”
Albon has previously voiced concerns about drivers gaining an unfair advantage by going off track to overtake him, only to build a large enough gap to negate any penalty. Magnussen's tactic, however, took things a step further – taking the lead and then slowing down the entire group.
"You saw it this weekend,” he said. “I think any team would do the same thing if you sacrifice one driver for guaranteed points.
“Maybe the top teams won't do it. But the midfield teams who need to take points at any opportunity, you would do it every single time.
"I think you might see more drivers doing it just to guarantee a team-mate to have points."
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