Alex Albon treated the collision with Carlos Sainz, his teammate at Williams, at the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix in Formula 1 as a minor incident and dismissed any comparison with the famous accident between Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo at the 2018 Azerbaijan GP.
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“It’s not a Verstappen/Ricciardo style incident, it’s less serious than that,” Albon told the press. The driver explained that he had a significant advantage at that moment in the race: much newer tires than Sainz’s. In the final laps, the two teammates were in 15th and 16th positions, with Albon trying to close in on the Spaniard.
In an overtaking attempt at turn 1, Sainz locked his brakes and hit the side of Albon’s car. The contact ended the Thai driver’s participation in the race. Despite the frustration, Albon considered the episode part of the situations that can occur during a race and attributed responsibility to his teammate:
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“It happens. I had better tires than him at that stage of the race. It’s his fault, to be completely honest. He locked the brakes, I saw him lock up, so I immediately tried to follow him in a straight line. But we collided, and my floor was quite damaged, so we had to stop in the pits.”
Williams had already faced difficulties in Zandvoort before the incident. The team lacked pace throughout the weekend and finished the race in a non-competitive situation, with Sainz and Albon in the back of the pack before the crash.
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