Alex Albon believes there is “quite a high chance” of a protest at this weekend’s British GP after several other sporting events have been interrupted.
Last year, members of the ‘Just Stop Oil’ group made their way onto the race track at the beginning of the race, sitting on the Wellington Straight.
Fortunately, the race had been neutralised by the time the field got there, about a third of the way around the lap, following a sizeable crash for Zhou Guanyu.
Six of the protesters were found guilty by a court in February, with three given suspended prison terms and the remainder 12-month community orders.
Last week, the same group invaded the field during the second Ashes test at Lord’s and, on Thursday, interrupted two separate matches at Wimbledon.
“I think there is possibly quite a high chance of something happening this weekend,” Albon warned.
“And obviously more than anything, with the sport that we do, it is a bit of a concern just purely because I think a pitch invasion is one thing but with cars and moving parts and all this kind of thing, it gets a bit more dangerous.”
Security around the track has been beefed up this year, with more marshals on the perimeter of the 5.891km circuit.
While sympathetic to their cause and supportive of a peaceful protest, Lewis Hamilton is hopeful there is no repeat of last year’s track invasion.
“We’re really hoping that we’ve learnt a lot from last year’s experience and that won’t happen this weekend,” he said.
“From my perspective, and I think the teams, we are very, very focused on sustainability.
“We believe in what people are fighting for and we are making those changes as a sport.
“But safety is key. We don’t want to be put in harm’s way and we don’t want to put anyone else in harm’s way.
“So if there was to be one [protest], we hope that it’s not on track.”
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