Albon will never blame Hamilton for F1 career course

Sam Cooper
Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon stood on the podium. Italy, September 2020.

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton stands next to Red Bull's Alex Albon on the podium for the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix. Italy, September 2020.

Alex Albon said he does not blame Lewis Hamilton despite two high-profile crashes that dramatically influenced his Red Bull career.

Alex Albon’s time at Red Bull was under the microscope from the moment he first sat in the seat. Struggling to adjust to a car built for his team-mate Max Verstappen and also struggling to produce similar levels of results as the future World Champion, the Thai-British driver was under increasing pressure as the season went on.

One thing that would have alleviated that pressure would have been his first podium in the sport but he was twice denied by the same man, Lewis Hamilton.

Speaking to the Beyond the Grid podcast, the now Williams driver admitted better results would have allowed him to have a better mindset.

“I do remember in one of the races I was getting bashed like ‘where’s your performance?’ and I was like ‘Hold on a minute, it wasn’t even that bad, everyone chill out a bit,'” he said.

 

No Albon heroics this time at Williams

Alexander Albon just fell short of another heroic drive on Sunday, coming home in 11th place.

“I think a result would have quietened everything down. I would have had the next six, seven races with a bit less of that noise because the noise started from the very first race of the year it was there. It was quite intense.”

On two occasions he came close to achieving that elusive podium only to be denied by Hamilton. The first was at Brazil 2019 when the Mercedes driver clipped Albon as the two turned a corner. The Red Bull driver would go on to finish the race outside of the points in P14.

The following year in Austria and Albon was not only in contention for a podium but maybe even the race win only to again be hit by Hamilton.

After the crash, Albon was heard over the team radio shouting “This guy is such a sore loser!” but two years on and Albon said he does not blame Hamilton for the direction his career has gone.

“I would never, never blame Lewis for what’s happened to me. It’s all on me,” Albon said.

“It’s just one of those things. He apologised and honestly, I look at the Brazil one and think I could have done my part in avoiding a crash in some places. I always look at crashes between drivers and it’s never 100-0, there’s always a little bit of give and take in most of these incidents.

Albon did however go on to joke that the Austria crash was Hamilton’s fault.

“The Austria one, though, I do think is his fault, for the record,” he said laughing.