Williams driver Alexander Albon caused a stir in Baku with a mistake in qualifying and a collision in the race – no points were scored
Williams driver Alexander Albon ruined both his race and that of Alpine driver Franco Colapinto at the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku with an overly optimistic overtaking attempt.
The incident occurred at the end of the first third of the race in turn 5: Albon wanted to squeeze past Colapinto on the inside, but was not within striking distance when he made his attack. Then came the collision, which forced Colapinto into a spin.
For the FIA stewards, it was a clear-cut case: “Albon’s front axle was not level with Colapinto’s rearview mirror. Colapinto, on the other hand, was driving on the normal racing line. Therefore, Albon had no right to the corner and is therefore fully responsible for the collision.”
The stewards imposed two penalty points and a ten-second time penalty on Albon, which dropped the Williams driver from eleventh to thirteenth place. Unlike his Williams teammate Carlos Sainz, who finished third, Albon remained pointless in Baku.
Albon: There was clearly more to be had in Baku
Albon is understandably annoyed about his performance: “I’m frustrated with myself. It was perhaps the easiest weekend of all to score points. But the real damage was done in qualifying.”
Albon had already misjudged things once: when turning into turn 1, he touched the barriers on the inside and ruined his left front suspension – sealing his fate in Q1 and ensuring a starting position far back on the grid.
The incident with Colapinto
Albon was all the more determined to make amends in the race. “We had the pace for it,” says the Williams driver. “But then many of the midfield cars reacted to my pit stop and tried to cover me directly. That made things a bit chaotic with Franco – my mistake.”
However, this admission of guilt is little consolation for Colapinto. He says: “It’s just not a corner for overtaking. It’s also a chicane, so you go to the other side.” This is because the following corner is a right-hander, which means that even if Albon had successfully overtaken in turn 5, he would still have had a bad hand.
Colapinto also criticizes the execution of the overtaking attempt: “He threw himself in on the inside and hit me very hard on the rear left. That cost me twelve seconds. In addition, my front wing was damaged and my tires were flat. And in the last 30 laps of the race, I had a lot of understeer in the car. That didn’t help at all.”
Alpine out of contention and lapped
Colapinto finally ended his “long afternoon” in 19th place, the last driver in the race—only he and his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly were lapped.
“We just lacked pace,” explains Colapinto. “I did my best and made up a few positions, but without speed in the car, it was just very difficult. The car is unpredictable and anything but easy to drive. That’s why we have to push the limits more than the others. That makes it difficult for us.”
