Williams driver Alex Albon has escaped a penalty by the FIA stewards following an incident at pit entry with Oscar Piastri at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
Piastri finished sixth in Sunday’s race at Sepang as Red Bull driver Max Verstappen claimed his first win of the F1 2026 season.
FIA takes no further action on Alex Albon after Oscar Piastri incident
Albon retired in the closing stages after suffering a gearbox problem, triggering a late safety car.
Piastri and Albon were involved in an incident at pit entry earlier in the race, with Piastri forced to take avoiding action after the Williams driver slowed unexpectedly.
Albon found himself under investigation for driving erratically.
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However, Albon explained that he was slowing to meet the delta time on his steering wheel, with the stewards opting to take no further action.
The stewards’ verdict read: “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 23 (Alexander Albon), the driver of Car 81 (Oscar Piastri), the team representatives and reviewed video, in-car video and telemetry.
“On the approach to the pit entry, ALB reduced his speed, causing PIA, who was following closely behind, to brake and take avoiding action.
“No collision or contact occurred.
“ALB explained that immediately before entering the pit entry road he became aware that he was below the required delta time and therefore reduced his speed in order to comply with the applicable delta requirement.
“PIA confirmed, having heard ALB’s explanation, that he considered the reason for ALB’s actions understandable.
“While the situation required a significant reaction from PIA and could potentially have developed into a dangerous situation, the Stewards were satisfied that ALB’s actions were taken in an attempt to comply with the applicable delta requirements and explained the otherwise unusual reduction in speed at that location.
“His actions, therefore, did not constitute erratic or unnecessarily dangerous driving in the circumstances.
“Having considered the matter extensively, the Stewards determine that no infringement occurred and accordingly take no further action.”
Speaking before his visit to the stewards, Albon revealed that he was “barely legal” on his delta time at the time of the incident with Piastri.
Asked by PlanetF1.com what happened, he replied: “I don’t know. I’m just making the VSC time delta.
“I had to brake, otherwise I was going to go past the minimum delta time, so maybe something there.
“Maybe he was close to me, also, with the same thing. We were obviously close to each other.
“I was barely legal crossing the line, so I can’t imagine he would be more negative than me.”
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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