Williams confirm Albon’s “tyre temperature spike” theory for crash

In brief

Turn five error led to Albon’s crash

Alexander Albon claimed his crash at turn six during yesterday’s race came about because his tyre temperatures rose when he ran wide at the previous corner.

“When I lost the car, I was going through slower than the previous lap,” he explained after the race. “I went wide on the corner before and spiked the tyre temperatures, losing grip and [went] into the next corner a bit hot, so I think that’s what happened but we need to look at it.”

The team’s head of vehicle performance Dave Robson affirmed Albon’s explanation. “Unfortunately, touching the kerb at high speed in turn five led to a small snap and a spike in tyre temperature, which led him to lose the car at the next corner,” he said.

Sainz’s penalty “too harsh” – Alonso

Fernando Alonso agreed with Carlos Sainz Jnr’s view that the stewards should not have penalised the Ferrari driver for the collision between the pair during the standing restart at the end of the race.

“Probably the penalty is too harsh, I think, because on lap one, it is very difficult always to judge what the grip level,” he said. “I think we don’t go intentionally into another car, you know? Because we know that we risk also our car and our final position.

“Sometimes you ended up in places that you wish you were not there in that moment. And it’s just part of racing, but I didn’t see the replay properly, but for me, it feels too hard.”

Junior drivers penalised for restart crashes

Formula 2 and Formula 3 drivers were penalised for crashes around Safety Car periods in yesterday’s races.

Victor Martins locked up at the penultimate corner and rear-ended Dennis Hauger at turn 13 as the F2 race restarted with three laps to go. The pair, who were disputing third place at the time, finished out of the points. The Alpine junior was therefore given a 10-second time penalty which demoted him from 16th to 18th, and two penalty points were added to his licence.

In F3, Kaylen Frederick was accelerating and decelerating to maintain tyre temperatures during a Safety Car period, but misjudged his speed differential to Nikola Tsolov and hit the back of his ART team mate at turn three. Frederick, who retired from the race, has been given a 10-place grid penalty for the next race he competes in, while three points have been added…