Albon and Bearman avoid penalty for crash as pair agree over incident · RaceFans

The Mexican Grand Prix stewards will take no action against Alexander Albon or Oliver Bearman after the pair collided during first practice.

Bearman had taken over Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari to fulfil the team’s obligation under the rules to give up one first practice session to a junior driver in the season.

Just under 20 minutes into the session, Albon was on a push lap and caught up to the Ferrari driver who was on a cool-down lap in the middle sector. Bearman was warned by race engineer Bryan Bozzi that Albon was the next car approaching on a fast lap and pulled to the right at the exit of turn nine to allow Albon to pass on the left.

As Albon arrived through turn nine, he appeared to lose control of his car and slid into the Ferrari, sending him spinning into the TecPro barriers with broken rear suspension. Bearman’s car was also damaged in the clash, leading him to have to pull to the side on the track and abandon the session.

Albon initially branded Bearman an “idiot” in an angry radio message. The Ferrari driver told his team “he hit me” in a shocked voice. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I could have done.”

The stewards spoke to both drivers about the accident after the session, determining Albon had lost control partly because of lifting off in reaction to Bearman’s car.

“Just after turn nine, Bearman, who was recharging and thus going relatively slow, pulled to the right,” the stewards described. “When Albon came around turn nine, he had Bearman in front of him and lifted. Because the car was under significant loading in the corner, it caused him to oversteer.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

“Both drivers agreed that Bearman’s positioning was not unreasonable, but was unfortunate as it was close to Albon’s line. Had Bearman been slightly further down the track it would not have resulted in an incident. All parties agreed that it was a racing incident.”

Leclerc will rake over his car again for today’s extended second practice session, with Bearman taking no further part in the weekend.