Red Bull technical advisor Helmut Marko has blamed Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton for ‘putting the brake’ on the career of former Red Bull driver Alex Albon following the collision that the duo suffered during the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix and then once again at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix.
The end result was bad for the Thai-British driver on both occasions, while it was a period where Hamilton strode to championship success.
The first instance where the duo clashed took place at Interlagos following a late safety car pit stop for Hamilton. It left the Mercedes driver in P4 and he knew he had to make a move fast. While Lewis was able to get past Pierre Gasly, he then attempted a move at Turn 10. This is when Albon made contact with Hamilton, sending him into the gravel and out of the points. Eventually, Max Verstappen won this race, but it was apparent that both drivers were frustrated following the crash.
The following year, Albon’s crash with Hamilton was perhaps even more exasperating. Albon had fresher tyres and was chasing down the two Mercedes drivers in front of him, with a realistic chance of winning his first-ever Grand Prix. However, as fate would have it, he collided with Hamilton at Turn 3 and went into the gravel.
“Alex had a lot of accidents in the lower categories, so we parted ways,” Marko said.
“After that turbulent phase, we signed him again and he hadn’t lost any of that speed. Lewis didn’t wreck his career, but he did put a brake on it.
“He was second in Brazil in 2019 when Hamilton ran him off the track. The following year, Alex tried to pass Hamilton on the outside at the Red Bull Ring, but he threw him into the gravel.
“He would have won that race, but he came away empty-handed. He needed a long time to recover from that. Alex is a very fast driver, but I wonder if he’s too nice. He seems like someone like Coulthard, everyone likes him, but he wasn’t too tough in the end.”
Since then, Albon has forced his name back into the reckoning after a stellar season at Williams. He may have spent some time in F1 wilderness, but his second foray into the sport has certainly raised some eyebrows. The 27-year-old did, after all, guide Williams to P7 last season and is being rumoured as one of the candidates in line to replace Carlos Sainz at Ferrari.