Jolyon Palmer thinks that Alex Albon should have been punished by the race stewards for costing Ferrari during the Monaco Grand Prix. The British-Thai racer – who, while racing for Williams, remains in the Red Bull stable – may have played a role in Max Verstappen being able to overtake Charles Leclerc in Monte Carlo, Palmer says. He did so, explained Palmer, by delaying the Monegasque for "a whole lap" while being shown blue flags to alert him to the faster car behind. This comes after Leclerc's teammate, Carlos Sainz, blamed Williams driver Nicholas Latifi for costing him the win in the Principality. Sainz lost two seconds of lap time behind the Canadian before being allowed the pass into the tunnel. He then returned to the start-finish line to see that eventual race winner, Sergio Perez, had jumped him through the pit-stops phase.
Palmer: Albon has to be getting a penalty
Speaking as he reviewed the footage for F1TV , Palmer expressed his sympathy for Latifi, who he says moved aside at the earliest available opportunity. However, the former F1 driver does not believe that Albon did all he could to get out of the way, and as such Palmer thinks that he was deserving of a penalty from the stewards. "Sainz is just sitting behind Latifi all the way through the lap and isn't able to use the pace of the Ferrari," Palmer explained. "This is the time loss that cost Carlos Sainz the win at the Monaco Grand Prix. "Latifi, really, it's very difficult to let cars through in Monaco. He does get out of the way at, kind of, the earliest opportunity that is really possible. "Unlike Alex Albon, who had to be getting a penalty for holding Charles Leclerc back on the Intermediates for a whole lap. It cost Leclerc three seconds before his second stop, and that would have kept him ahead of Max Verstappen at the very least. "Latifi does differently, he let Sainz go into the tunnel. It's just very, very unlucky [for Sainz]."
Sainz left frustrated by Monaco impeding
Albon failed to finish the race, while Latifi took the chequered flag one lap down in 15th, describing his afternoon as a "positive" one. Ferrari, meanwhile, ended the day with Sainz in second and Leclerc in fourth, and with both drivers feeling a Monaco Grand Prix win had escaped them. Sainz's frustration with back-markers was only exacerbated with the team having been handed a €25,000 fine after he impeded Lance Stroll during Friday practice. He was also handed a reprimand, leaving him one warning away from landing a 10-place grid drop. The Spaniard complained : "I cannot count the times that I was impeded at Monaco this weekend, both being dangerous and not dangerous."
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