FIA stewards issue extra punishment after hefty 10-second Baku penalty

Michelle Foster 22 Sep 2025 12:00 PM

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In a tale of two Williams drivers, one teammate secured a podium at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix while the other copped a 10-second penalty, and two penalty points on his Super Licence.

Carlos Sainz was the teammate celebrating what he labelled his “best” podium in Formula 1, while Alex Albon was lamenting a difficult race weekend.

FIA stewards hit Alex Albon with two penalty points

Albon lined up on the back row of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix grid after a crash in qualifying, the first of six red flags, left him down in 19th place on the grid.

Working his way towards the top ten, the Thai-British racer pitted on lap 15 in the hope of under-cutting Franco Colapinto only for the Alpine to pit the lap after and rejoin just ahead of him.

Fighting for 13th place, they tangled at Turn 5 with Colapinto pitched into a spin while Albon lost his front wing endplate.

The stewards ruled that Albon was “wholly responsible” for the collision and handed him a 10-second penalty. Going one further, they also hit him with two penalty points on his Super Licence to bring his tally up to four.

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The stewards’ ruling read: “The Stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, and video evidence.

“Entering Turn 5 Car 23 attempted to overtake Car 43 on the inside however did not have his front axle level with the mirror of Car 43, Car 43 was in control and taking the normal racing line, therefore Car 23 did not have the right to the corner and accordingly was wholly responsible for the collision.”

Albon was quick to accept that he was in the wrong.

“I obviously made contact with Franco [which was] not ideal,” he told the official Formula 1 channel. “I’ll hold my hand up.”

Albon finished the race down in 13th place, while his teammate Sainz claimed a debut podium as a Williams driver as he followed up his P2 in qualifying with a third-placed finish.

Albon applauded his teammate’s success.

“I’m really happy for Carlos,” he said. “I think he drove a very solid weekend from qualifying to the race. He’s been mistake-free, which with this weather and these conditions was not easy.

“I think the car was quick as well. I’m frustrated at myself because I haven’t really scored points in the weekend. It was maybe the easiest weekend of them all to score points on. But it happens.

“At the same time, it’s great for the Constructors’ Championship, what Carlos has got. Great for himself as well. On our side, I think he’s always been extremely quick. It’s been unfortunate. Good to shake off the bad luck. So good for him.”