Alex Albon left the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix frustrated after receiving a five-second penalty and a penalty point for contact with Lewis Hamilton at Turn 14. The Williams driver argued that the incident was minor and caused no real damage to Hamilton’s Ferrari, making the stewards’ ruling difficult for him to accept.
The penalty added to a messy evening that also included a rare speeding infringement before the formation lap and a complete radio outage that compromised his race from the opening laps.
Collision with Hamilton: Albon “surprised” by severity of penalty
The incident took place when Hamilton ahead made a small error, prompting Albon to attempt a move on the inside. The pair made contact, costing Albon part of his front wing, although Hamilton appeared unaffected.
Albon said:
“Lewis made a mistake so I tried to overtake. Honestly, I think it was a bit of a misjudgment, but it was really minor. I’m surprised I got penalised for it, especially since he didn’t have any problems. I don’t really understand why it was so severe.”
The stewards concluded that Albon misjudged the distance and held him responsible, but acknowledged the light nature of the contact.
“The relatively minor nature of the contact and the lack of impact on the No. 44 car were taken as mitigating factors.”
Albon now sits on five penalty points for the season.
A rare pre-race speeding reprimand caused by radio failure
Before the race had even begun, Albon was involved in another unusual regulatory breach. As he left the grid to begin the formation lap, he exceeded the mandated pit-lane speed limit, hitting 92 km/h before passing the pole-position marker.
Under Article 44.7 of the Sporting Regulations, drivers must stay within pit-lane speed limits until clearing pole position.
Because Albon’s radio system failed before the start, he never received the team’s reminder to activate the limiter. The stewards accepted this context and issued only a reprimand.
It was Albon’s third reprimand of the season. Accumulating five would trigger an automatic ten-place grid penalty.
Race compromised by complete radio outage
The radio issue continued through the race and made Albon’s recovery difficult after his collision with Hamilton. Without communication, Williams could not guide him on the condition of his damaged front wing.
Albon explained:
“I went into the pits to change my front wing but I didn’t have a radio so they couldn’t tell me how bad it was, so I went in again the next lap and finally got it changed.”
Onboard footage showed Albon repeatedly pointing at the front of the car during the stop in an attempt to communicate with his crew.
Although his pace was reasonable, the lost time left him at the back, and he eventually retired on lap 35.
“In the end I was fighting at the back, so there wasn’t much point in continuing. Without radio communication I might get in the way of other cars if there was a blue flag, and that’s not what I wanted.”
He added jokingly:
“It was pretty peaceful.”
The Las Vegas race was ultimately won by Max Verstappen. With both McLarens disqualified post-race, Mercedes secured a double podium with George Russell in second and Kimi Antonelli in third.
