‘He needs to get penalised’: Seething Albon accuses Alonso of foul play

Alex Albon was frustrated at the traffic he experienced during his final run in qualifying as he was eliminated in Q1.

Williams driver Alex Albon was furious at Alpine’s Fernando Alonso at the end of the first qualifying session in Baku as he was eliminated.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll had found the barrier at Turn Two late on in the session and, with two-and-a-half minutes to go, the red flag was brought out.

It meant that the drivers had limited time to get out on track and do their final runs, so it means that McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris, as well as Haas’ Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen, could not go any quicker as they tripped over each other.

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That led to both Haas drivers being eliminated in the first phase of qualifying, but they were not the only ones getting a little close for comfort.

Albon spent the entire lap stuck behind Alonso, who already had a lap good enough to make the top 15, and he could not clear the Spaniard until they made it to Turn 15 at the end of the middle sector, when the double world champion took to the escape road.

Subsequently, the Thai-Brit was eliminated from qualifying along with team-mate Nicholas Latifi, and he will start Sunday’s race in 17th.

Incredibly frustrated at having been held behind Alonso for the entirety of his second run, the 26-year-old took to the radio to suggest that the double world champion had deliberately scuppered his lap time.

“He needs to get penalised this guy,” said a seething Albon on the radio.

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“He has to, this is ridiculous… he was doing it the whole lap, he was driving slowly on purpose.”

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Alonso had also been involved in a small incident with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the third and final practice session on Saturday afternoon when he held him up at Turn 12.

There is as yet no word as to whether the FIA will penalise the 40-year-old for the incident with Albon, but both Haas drivers are to be investigated later for a similar potential indiscretion, as well as Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton.