Alexander Albon will no doubt wake up in a sweat at night thinking back to last year's Austrian Grand Prix. The then Red Bull driver was in prime position to take a podium, but was literally and figuratively knocked off track at turn four of the Red Bull Ring by Lewis Hamilton. Albon eventually crashed out while Hamilton was given a time penalty, allowing Lando Norris - who was just close enough behind him - to take his first podium in Formula 1. But much more could have been achieved, agrees Dr Helmut Marko when asked by Motorsport Total about the identical incidents at this year's Austrian Grand Prix involving Sergio Perez, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc at the same point on the track. "Turn four is famous, that's where Hamilton destroyed Albon's career. If Hamilton had not turned in there in 2020, Albon would have won the race," said the Austrian. "Then maybe everything would have been very different, because of course the psyche and self-confidence develop very differently then." Marko does think it is good for drivers to try to overtake another on the outside if they can't get through on the inside. But, he says, the rules have to be respected. "They have to race while giving space to the other. That is where Norris made a mistake. He saw Perez had passed on the outside and should have given him space, he didn't. But if Perez doesn't try, then we'll have a boring straggler behind us and that's not what we want either."
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