F1 News: Alex Albon Calls For Stricter Penalties After Japanese GP

Williams driver Alex Albon believes that the existing penalty of five seconds for causing a collision in Formula 1 is not good enough, since it doesn't teach the drivers anything. 

The comments come from him after a recent accident with Red Bull driver Sergio Perez during the Singapore Grand Prix where he was knocked into a spin that caused him to lose out on a points finish. 

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Speaking of Perez, the Mexican driver caused not one, but two different incidents during the Japanese Grand Prix. The first one involved Lewis Hamilton in the opening lap and the second one involved Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, who was taken out by Perez in lap 12. 

For the two grave errors, the only punishment he attracted was a five-second penalty for each of the collisions he caused. But, if you analyze the penalties, they don't seem to be making much of a difference.

Despite Perez's five-second penalty in Singapore, it made no difference to the P8 he secured in the Grand Prix. In Japan, he ended up with a DNF for double contact but Red Bull utilized the FIA loophole and sent him back onto the track, to make him serve the five-second penalty. Doing so prevented the penalty from being carried forward to Qatar in the form of a grid drop.

Albon feels that the soft punishment does not stop drivers from conducting risky moves. When asked about Perez's repeat offenses in Japan, he told Motorsport.com:

"In Turn 11 he did the same move again to me on track today.

"I avoided it. And then he did it again to Kevin. I was behind him, so I had the best view of everyone.

"And so clearly it's not really teaching the drivers anything, because the penalties aren't strict enough. I mean, that's two races in a row."

As for Magnussen, the Danish driver vented his frustration on the incident that cost him his race. He said:

"I just got spun around there by Perez, and it ruined our race.

"We had to pit, and that was too early for the two-stop strategy that we had, and the tyre degradation that we had. It was just too early to pit then. But we had to.

"I think he's penalising himself, there's a natural penalty for him doing that.

"It doesn't look good for him, but it is what it is. We're racing. He was in a shitty position, and he made a shitty move."

Director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association George Russell acknowledged that the issue needs attention. He added:

"When I look at Austin last year when I made a mistake with Carlos [Sainz] and I got a five-second for it, that was really drive-through worthy.

"And it's difficult, because we always say that we shouldn't judge the consequence of the incident, but sometimes you need to judge the consequence of the incident. So I'll need to review."