Red Bull’s Alexander Albon says he “wasn’t trying to do anything crazy” at the Italian Grand Prix, reckoning his in-race time penalty was excessive.
Albon lost ground at the start and subsequently went through the gravel exiting Lesmo while battling against Carlos Sainz Jr.
That cost Albon a few positions and while scrapping with Kevin Magnussen he received a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage.
Albon served the sanction at his pit stop and ultimately came home sixth, within sight of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg.
“I think it was a bit harsh,” said Albon. “I did the move down the straight, I was ahead at the time, he went for it again, which is fair enough for him, and if I had turned in we would have crashed, so I had to go straight.
“For me, you can say he made a move, but – I’m not going to call it like a dive bomb – but it didn’t leave me with anywhere to go and I had to go straight.
“Because he came in so deep, he was also passed by Daniil [Kvyat], so I thought I wasn’t going to give two positions back and I would just try to keep going.
“I understand why they gave it to me, I just thought I couldn’t go anywhere
“It was a bit of a messy race. Saying that, I felt that he moves I tried were justified, I wasn’t trying to do anything crazy.
“We finished in P6, obviously without that time penalty it would have been P5, but, as a whole, I’m actually happier with my pace than I was in Spa.”
Monza marked Albon’s second event competing for the senior Red Bull team in the wake of his seat swap with Pierre Gasly during Formula 1’s summer break.
“I’m getting to know the car a bit better, in the race I felt I was getting a bit more comfortable but I’m still trying things in the races, seeing how the car behaves with switches and everything,” said Albon.
“It’s still all quite new to me but I feel it’s getting better and my pace was better than Spa. It’s going in a good way.”
