No penalty for Carlos Sainz after incident with Albon

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz escaped a possible penalty after the Spaniard was investigated for an incident with Alexander Albon that happened in the opnening segment of today's qualifying session.

Carlos Sainz found himself on a slow lap when Williams driver Alexander Albon approached the swimming pool chicane on a hot lap. The Spaniard realized the fast-approaching Williams late, but he took evasive action to get out of the Thai driver's way.

Although the incident did not have any effect on Albon's result as he could progress into the next qualifying session, the FIA stewards launched an investigation. The stewards claimed that the Williams driver lost around a tenth of a second because of the impeding, but the incident was mainly down to the tight nature of the Monaco circuit.

During the hearing, Albon defended Sainz, claiming that the incident was not a "clear case of impeding" while also saying that the section of Turns 15 and 16 is a sequence of blind corners where it is particularly difficult to get out of the way.

The stewards have ultimately elected to take no action against Sainz.

The stewards' statement read: "The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 55 ( Carlos Sainz), the driver of Car 23 (Alexander Albon), team representatives and reviewed video, team radio and in-car video evidence and determined that Car 23 was on a push lap and caught Car 55 at the chicane at Turns 15/16.

"The driver of Car 55 was informed by the team of the approach of Car 23. The driver of Car 55 attempted to move as quickly as he could off the racing line to give Car 23 space at the exit of Turn 16. However, given the tight nature of the chicane and the Monaco circuit, Car 23 was impacted by Car 55’s presence at the chicane.

"The driver of Car 55 stated on hindsight that he could perhaps have gone off the track and thereby given Car 23 more room but felt that he did not unnecessarily impede Car 23 as he took the necessary steps on the track to give him space.

"The driver of Car 23 was able to complete his push lap and although he may have lost a tenth and a half in terms of time and was therefore affected, he said it was, in his mind, “grey” as to whether or not he was unnecessarily impeded by Car 55. He did not think this was a clear case of impeding. He acknowledged that the part of the circuit was particularly difficult at it is a sequence of blind corners and that Car 55 could not have seen Car 23 approaching any sooner.

"In the light of the above, we took no further action."