Albon round the outside was ahead by definition of the current rules. Still boils down to the fact that the current rules make for awful racing.
OK I'm sorry but that Albon give back was ridiculous. If those are the "rules" then they need to be changed. Is this racing or a bunch of lawyers? IMO, that was a classic battle RUINED. That being said, both Lewis and Charlie ran a pretty good race. Alonso the big loser. RB has caught up with McLaren.
I don't care what the rule or interpretaion was, Charles didn't do nothing wrong, he is simply much better than albon, and the position was his, they should not given it back, if the stewards wanted to steal it, like they did to Seb in Canada, let them, but Ferrari should not endorse this kind of stupidity.
They released a video of the discussion of the Albon give back decision. Image Unavailable, Please Login
What's interesting is the FIA regarding similar instances: 1) Car pulls over to the side of the track and warrants a VSC. 2) Car pulls over to the side of the track and warrants a SC. Now I would like to believe the FIA is somewhat fair under certain circumstances, but talk about manipulating the show meaning they just can't have someone(possibly Max) ride into the distance and they spice it up by bringing a SC to bunch up the pack with 10 or 11 laps left and have a race until the end.
In truth, Sainz wasn't all that spectacular in Q2. 1:15 and change wasn't a great time. Just everyone else was falling off. They were having trouble staying on track with softs. (Notice Aston went with mediums.) In the race, Sainz got shafted by the early pit call from the team. Catch the radio exchange later? "Alex 21.8" "If he's doing 21.8, that a one stop for sure." Subtle way to tell the team they screwed up on him. Eights was a good finish, given how many places the pit stops cost him. Did a good job on the track.
Go back and watch it slower. Albon was ahead, and Chuck didn't turn in at all -- just went straight for the outside, leaving Alex nowhere to go but the gravel. The "who's ahead" rules are a weird rule. Twas a time when the rule was "leave the other driver room". The best example was Dijon 1979 Villeneuve and Arnoux battling around corners, leaving each other space.
He was not ahead by the rules but should have been left room by the rules. Strategically it still worked out as it allowed Lewis into 4th where Albon would have eventually gotten Charles regardless, tires were shot. Overall good strategy by Ferrari, they were 3rd fastest car in the race and despite the qual positions it was about as good as possible. Great driving by both on the split strategies. Max is on a different level.
In the end who cares ? Don’t want to be rude but: We are mainly rooting for a winning championship Scuderia and I couldn’t care less about a battle for a fifth place between Charles and a Williams ..
I gave up rooting for Ferrari when they hired Citizen Crane. When Ferrari returns to being more interested in racing than in selling clothes, I'll root for them again. Until then, ...
Albon never had the corner. and he was on the outside. these rules are against basic racing logic Image Unavailable, Please Login
In the contrary, it's interesting to watch how a team who took on a driver sacked by Ferrari performs against the almighty Scuderia !! There is more to follow than 2 Ferrari in a race ...
Never thought I’d see the day when a P4 would be so celebrated! The comments on Ferrari’s account are pure gold. After qualifying people were ready to burn the factory down, now all the Lewis fanboys are acting like he just won the WDC!!! Can’t wait to see it all flip flop again next race. F1 reality tv
andc even worse in 2026 rules where they can one's drs on and off to "spice their ratings"... and further destroy F1