{"id":1307,"date":"2026-08-27T12:01:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T15:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=1307"},"modified":"2026-08-27T12:01:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T15:01:05","slug":"alexander-albon-denies-tension-carlos-sainz-after-zandvoort-clash-i-let-him-buy-me-a-coffee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/alexander-albon-denies-tension-carlos-sainz-after-zandvoort-clash-i-let-him-buy-me-a-coffee\/","title":{"rendered":"Albon denies tension with Sainz after Zandvoort clash: \u201cI let him buy me a coffee\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key takeaways<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>No internal tension:<\/strong> <strong>Alexander Albon confirmed he cleared the air with Carlos Sainz<\/strong> over breakfast on Monday following their contact in Zandvoort.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Costly collision:<\/strong> <strong>Sainz received a 10-second penalty<\/strong> for the Incident at Turn 1, which damaged Albon\u2019s floor and ultimately forced the Thai driver to retire.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Media sensationalism:<\/strong> <strong>Albon criticized media efforts to inflame team rivalries<\/strong>, noting the incident was far from a Baku 2018-style dynamic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Alexander Albon<\/strong> put an end to speculation regarding internal friction at <strong>Williams<\/strong> following his collision with teammate <strong>Carlos Sainz<\/strong> during the <strong>Dutch Grand Prix<\/strong>. Speaking after the event, the Thai driver confirmed that the two resolved the matter quickly off-track, with Sainz picking up the tab for breakfast the following morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The incident occurred late in the race at Zandvoort, where Sainz\u2014defending on worn tires\u2014locked up entering Turn 1 and made contact with Albon. The collision inflicted floor damage on Albon&#8217;s FW48, forcing his retirement. Stewards handed Sainz a 10-second time penalty, leaving the Spaniard in 16th and last place among the running order at the checkered flag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Appearing on <em>The Fast And The Curious<\/em> podcast, Albon minimized the severity of the incident and called out sensationalized media coverage surrounding team rivalries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;<strong>We had breakfast together on Monday. Carlos offered to pay. I let him pay,<\/strong>&#8221; a smiling Albon shared. &#8220;<strong>It&#8217;s all good. I think people like to make it seem like a bigger deal than it actually was, but at the same time, it was no Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo [in Baku, 2018]. To me, that was important.<\/strong>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Albon highlighted how media interviews often attempt to provoke conflict right after high-stress moments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;<strong>You can tell in the media pen: as soon as you step out of the race, it feels like the interviewer is practically licking their lips, getting all excited,<\/strong>&#8221; Albon added. &#8220;<strong>So you have to manage that and say: &#8216;No, we&#8217;re not going down that road.&#8217;<\/strong>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Heading into Monza, Sainz occupies 16th place in the Drivers&#8217; Championship with 6 points, hovering just ahead of Albon in 17th with 5 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The driver dynamics update comes amid a busy paddock news cycle leading into the Italian Grand Prix, with <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/carlos-sainz-already-puts-aston-martin-in-another-league-against-poor-williams-f1-performance\/\">Carlos Sainz placing Aston Martin in a superior league relative to Williams<\/a>, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/williams-fields-browning-for-italian-gp-fp1-benching-albon\/\">Williams fielding reserve driver Luke Browning in place of Albon for FP1 at Monza<\/a>, and <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/alpine-keeps-franco-colapinto-alongside-pierre-gasly-how-the-2027-formula-1-grid-stands\/\">Alpine extending Franco Colapinto\u2019s contract alongside Pierre Gasly for 2027<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Formula 1 resumes action from <strong>September 4\u20136<\/strong> at Monza for the <strong>Italian Grand Prix<\/strong>, the 13th round of the 2026 season. <strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/\">GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/a><\/strong> provides complete live coverage of every session. Follow all updates on our <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/news\/\">news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">World Championship Standings (Top 5 after Dutch GP)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Pos<\/th><th>Driver<\/th><th>Team<\/th><th>Engine<\/th><th>Points<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>1<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Andrea Kimi Antonelli<\/strong><\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td><strong>242<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>2<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>George Russell<\/strong><\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td><strong>183<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>3<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Lewis Hamilton<\/strong><\/td><td>Ferrari<\/td><td>Ferrari<\/td><td><strong>183<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>4<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Lando Norris<\/strong><\/td><td>McLaren<\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td><strong>159<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>5<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Charles Leclerc<\/strong><\/td><td>Ferrari<\/td><td>Ferrari<\/td><td><strong>155<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently asked questions (FAQ)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>1. What penalty did Carlos Sainz receive for colliding with Alexander Albon at Zandvoort?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Race stewards handed Carlos Sainz a <strong>10-second time penalty<\/strong> for causing a collision at Turn 1 during the Dutch Grand Prix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2. Are Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz on bad terms after the Dutch GP?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No. Albon explicitly denied any lingering tension, confirming that he and Sainz discussed the incident over breakfast on Monday after the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>3. When is the next round of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Formula 1 returns to action from <strong>September 4\u20136, 2026<\/strong>, for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alexander Albon dismissed rumors of internal friction at Williams following their collision in the Dutch Grand Prix, revealing Carlos Sainz bought him breakfast the next day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020313001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz cleared the air immediately following the Dutch GP","42wp_featured_image_credits":"Gabriel L\u00f3pez\/Grande Pr\u00eamio","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[60,147,62],"42wp_author":[48],"class_list":["post-1307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-alexander-albon","tag-carlos-sainz","tag-williams","42wp_author-giovani-danjo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1308,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions\/1308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020313001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=1307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}