The Alonso Albon collision came on the opening lap of the United States Grand Prix, and it decided both afternoons. Alex Albon went for 12th place into the Turn 11 hairpin, went into the side of Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin, and damaged both cars. Neither driver was penalised. Alonso finished 16th, Albon 17th.
Turn 11 flashpoint on the first lap
Turn 11 at the Circuit of the Americas is a hairpin, the one corner on the lap where a driver has to slow the car hard and rotate it. Albon arrived there alongside the Aston Martin and made contact. Both cars kept running, which is why the incident produced damage reports rather than retirements.
Alonso's account is short and pointed. "Albon forgot Turn 11 was there and he had to turn left," he said. In his reading, the corner required a car to be turned, and the Williams did not allow for it.
Alonso says the bottom third is short on quality
The collision fed a wider complaint. "We need to get better and start a little bit higher up because the bottom third of the grid, the quality of the drivers is very low at the moment," Alonso said. It was a broad verdict on the group, delivered after a first-lap incident rather than a season-long review.
His own qualifying position of 12th — his joint-best Saturday result of the season — put him at the front edge of the group he was describing. Both men were racing outside the points when they touched. Alonso's damaged car came home 16th, Albon one place further back.
Albon points to the car on the outside
Albon did not apologise, and did not think an apology was owed. "It's racing. I think there was a car on his outside that squeezed [him]. I was side by side with him the whole way into the corner. It's hard to disappear," he said, pointing to Esteban Ocon's presence on the outside of the Aston Martin as part of the squeeze.
He framed the afternoon as a contest rather than a mistake. "I thought we had some good racing. We had a second go at it later in the race. I enjoyed it at least. I hope he feels the same way on the second half. It was good fun." The two versions of the same corner do not meet: one driver describes a missed braking point, the other describes a car with nowhere to go.
What the damage cost the Aston Martin
Alonso estimated the Turn 11 contact cost him around half a second per lap for the rest of the race. Even so, he rated the afternoon as his strongest of the year on pace. "It was the best race by far of the year for us in terms of competitiveness. Good tyre management. We got a lot of damage on Lap 1 with the Albon incident," he said.
"Despite that, the car was still competitive. We had a P9 or P10 on merit. The best and strongest race of the year but ruined in the first lap with the Turn 11 incident." That is the mechanical story in plain terms: the Aston Martin had race pace it could not spend, because the damage was logged before the first lap was finished. Points were the target; 16th was the return.
Mexico City comes next
Formula 1 stays in the Americas for the second leg of its triple header, with the Mexico City Grand Prix following Austin. For Alonso, the argument is about qualifying higher and staying clear of the bottom third. For Albon, the later stages in Austin — the second attempt, the racing he said he enjoyed — are the evidence he would rather be judged on.
Kimi Antonelli won in Austin, while Mercedes team-mate George Russell called his own pace "rubbish" after finishing almost a minute behind.
The original report is from skysports.com.
