LEWIS HAMILTON was labelled “f***ing dangerous” by an F1 rival as controversy flared over tight corners at the Saudi GP.
Race chiefs investigated the near miss in practice after Williams’ Alex Albon took evasive action to avoid hitting Ferrari’s seven-time world champ.
Should Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari face a penalty for this incident? 👀 pic.twitter.com/JAl5ybeA4H
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Should Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari face a penalty for this incident? 👀 pic.twitter.com/JAl5ybeA4H
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Lewis Hamilton faced a stewards’ probe over the scary momentCredit: Rex
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Alex Albon had to veer right to avoid hitting Hamilton’s red FerrariCredit: Sky Sports F1
Albon was heard berating the 40-year-old legend on his team radio on the tricky track in Jeddah.
Some of the circuit’s corners were called “so blind” by commentators.
And the most frightening moment came on the approach to turn nine.
Albon roared round the bend and suddenly saw Hamilton’s much-slower car in front of him on the inside.
The 29-year-old had to lurch his steering wheel to the right to avoid hitting the Brit.
“F***ing dangerous” was just part of Albon’s instant assessment of the situation.
Stewards looked at the incident but decided Hamilton should not be punished.
And in a statement they implied Albon had also changed his verdict.
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Albon was suddenly confronted by Hamilton’s car in front of himCredit: Sky Sports F1
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Stewards ruled Hamilton had got in his fellow racer’s way, but not created a hazard.
The statement said: “As agreed with the teams, unless the impeding during free practice was such that it could be regarded as dangerous, there will be no penalty for such impeding.
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‘During the hearing, the driver of Car 23 (Albon) felt that he had the car under control at all times and while he was impeded, he did not consider the situation to be dangerous.
“He had seen Car 44 (Hamilton) in front of him during the corner before.
“He did not expect Car 44 to be in the position on track he was in and that shocked the driver of Car 23 as he approached Turn 17 and had to take evasive action.
“While his immediate reaction when the incident occurred was to say that it was dangerous, having looked at it subsequently, he agreed that it was not. We accordingly took no further action.”
Williams team principal James Vowles is worried more cars could be blocked in similar fashion over the weekend.
But he accepted the issue caused by Hamilton was not “intentional”.
Vowles told Sky Sports F1: “There’s certain portions of the track, it’s mainly between Turn 5 all the way to Turn 8, where you’re blind, you’re fully loaded on the car, and there’s not a lot you can do any more
“You can lift off, that’s about as much as you can do. You certainly can’t brake. And that’s really what caused it.
“It’s not intentional from Ferrari, but let’s try and be stronger on it because we don’t want an accident.”
The saga came as Hamilton finished a disappointing second practice 13th.
