Lewis Hamilton Personally Messaged Alex Albon to Apologise After the Brazilian Grand Prix

At the Brazilian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton tried to send a move down the inside of Alex Albon. Unfortunately, he overcooked it and ended up colliding with the Thai driver and denying him a maiden podium.

Afterwards, a repentant Hamilton private messaged the Red Bull rookie apologizing for his actions. Had the incident not taken place, the Red Bull rookie would have been on course for his first career F1 podium.

At the time, Alex Albon was perfectly set up to record a one-two finish behind teammate Max Verstappen. When the race restarted after a safety car period, two laps were left, then Hamilton hit Albon while attempting an overtake.

The six-time champion took full responsibility at the time and approached Albon after the race. However, Alex Albon admitted that he wasn’t too torn up about losing a golden opportunity.

“(I got over it) pretty quickly, actually,” Albon said. “When I looked at the weekend as a whole — there was Mexico as well but it was really the first time I could mix it and was mixing it with the top guys.

“There were a lot of positives there, with the negative being the crash but really on the global outlook of the situation it was a good weekend. It hurts but there will be plenty more chances in the future. Even Lewis was really good about it — he sent me a message on DMs so he was very apologetic.”

The youngster confessed that he was surprised that Lewis Hamilton shouldered the blame and did not defend himself. His actions costing him a five-second penalty that demoted him from third place to seventh.

Albon continued, “There are different circumstances; of course I don’t blame Lewis wholly, there are ways I could have avoided the crash, you could say. I was surprised to begin with, but I think it was just one of those things. Just the way it happens and the way the corner is and things like that, it’s more just about waiting, really.”

“It wasn’t always going to happen but there was a good chance it was going to happen very soon after that corner, into Turn 1 or whatever. So I think it was just the initial rush to overtake. It’s one of those things and it’s all gone now.”