Alex Albon stripped of Miami Sprint points after stewards investigation

Alex Albon has been stripped of his fourth-place finish in the Miami Grand Prix Sprint following a stewards investigation.

The safety car was summoned after Liam Lawson clipped the rear of Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin through Turn 12, sending the two-time F1 champion into a spin, smashing into a wall.

The 18-lap race finished behind the safety car, with Albon taking a superb fourth. The Thai-British driver was promoted one place at the chequered flag as Red Bull's Max Verstappen dropped to 17th and last due to serving a 10-second penalty for an unsafe release.

As the flag dropped, the stewards confirmed an alleged breach of Article 55.7 of the FIA sporting regulations for Albon, relating to exceeding the minimum time under the safety car.

The regulation states that: "All competing cars must reduce speed and form up in line behind the safety car no more than 10 car lengths apart," with it being necessary to be above the minimum ECU time on the delta.

The stewards found that Albon "was below the minimum time set in the ECU in three consecutive sectors at the beginning of the safety car period."

As such, the standard sanction of five-second penalty was handed out, although the stewards did mitigate it due to the track conditions and that no "unsafe or dangerous" situation occurred. 

Albon drops from P4 to P12, with George Russell, Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson, and Yuki Tsunoda all moving up one place with Kimi Antonelli picking up one point. 

However, Lawson is also facing an investigation for colliding with Fernando Alonso.