Albon and Perez's unusual Suzuka practice collision explained

Alex Albon and Sergio Perez had an unusual crash in the first Formula 1 practice session at Suzuka, which was partly caused by Perez’s “virtual mirror” failing.

The Williams and Cadillac drivers collided in the closing moments of FP1 at the chicane, as Albon dived down the inside of a slow-moving Perez.

Perez clearly didn’t see Albon and turned into the corner, sending debris flying and leading to Perez missing the start of FP2 while Cadillac worked to repair his car. 

The stewards decided not to penalise either driver but did single out Cadillac’s communication error. Perez also explained that his ‘virtual mirror’ system that should automatically warn him of the gaps to faster, closing cars was not working.

“[Perez] explained that he was on a race-run lap and was about to commence another,” the stewards’ report read. 

“He had seen [Albon] some distance behind when he had exited Turn 14. [Albon] was on an out lap and gained significantly on [Perez] through Turn 15 and on the approach to Turn 16. 

“[Albon] moved to overtake [Perez] on the inside at Turn 16 and a collision occurred. [Perez] said that he did not see [Albon] his virtual mirror was not working and he had not received any warning from his team of [Albon’s] approach.

“This was confirmed by his team radio. The team explained that they had assumed that [Albon] would hold position behind [Perez] and had not noticed the extent to which [Albon] had gained on [Perez] and for that reason did not warn [him]. 

“[Albon] said that he believed from the wide line taken by [Perez] at the entry to Turn 16 that [Perez] was letting him through.

“Both drivers were surprised by the closing speeds. The collision was therefore the result of a misunderstanding contributed to by a lack of communication by the team to [Perez]. 

“Both drivers accepted that neither of them was wholly or predominantly to blame for it. The stewards therefore, determined to take no further action.”