'I don't regret the move' says Albon – despite grid penalty for contact with Stroll

Alex Albon has received a three-place grid penalty for April’s Australian Grand Prix as a result of his late-race move on Lance Stroll in Saudi Arabia and, despite the incident putting him out of the race, the Williams driver said he wasn't regretful.

Albon dived to the inside of Stroll into the opening chicane, spinning the Aston Martin driver out of P11 and ending his own race prematurely – also bringing out yellow flags in Sector 1 that impacted the lead battle between Charles Leclerc and eventual winner Max Verstappen.

READ MORE: Verstappen beats Leclerc by just 0.5s in epic Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

After the race, a defiant Albon said: “It was a strong defence, but it's fine. I went for the move. Honestly, we are struggling because we are not great on the brakes, but I went for it. We were fighting for points at the end, and, at least… get some points on the table.

“I don't really regret the move – for me it was a racing incident.”

Along with the three-place grid penalty for the next round in Melbourne on April 8-10, Albon – who is two races into his tenure with Williams – has received two penalty points.

As for Stroll, he admitted he was out of points contention at that point given Kevin Magnussen (P9) and Lewis Hamilton (P10) were on fresher tyres having pitted late on.

“We did our best to try to hold on for a points finish after the late Virtual Safety Car period, but unfortunately two cars behind us were on a faster and fresher tyre compound, so there was not much we could do,” said Stroll.

READ MORE: Verstappen ‘really happy to kickstart the season’ after winning out over Leclerc in sensational Saudi race

“It was a shame that we ended the final laps with some damage after a collision with Alex. I felt I had left him space when he made his dive, but I have not watched the replays yet. There is still a long season ahead of us, so we will keep working hard to find more performance in the car for the coming races.”

Williams and Aston Martin are the only teams yet to score points after two races of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship.