The FIA ​​issued 12 penalties for track limit infractions after the F1 Austrian GP

The FIA ​​issued 12 additional penalties for track-limit infractions during the 2023 Austrian Formula 1 Grand Prix to demote Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton in particular.

Max Verstappen dominated the Red Bull Ring to beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and teammate Sergio Perez, but the preliminary result quickly became questionable.

Aston Martin launched a protest in regards to incidents of track limit violations – most often at Turns 9 and 10 – that were not properly identified and the perpetrators punished.

The FIA ​​later revealed that it was unable to review more than 1,200 reports of drivers who swerved over the white lines on all four wheels during the 71-lap race.

Meanwhile, the stewards were presented with a list of lap times removed from race control that showed instances of violations that had not been brought to their attention before.

These penalties were reviewed and 12 more penalties were issued on the following basis:

– Three violations should have resulted in a black and white warning sign.

– Four violations require a penalty of five seconds.

– Five offenses get a 10-second penalty.

– After that, a “reset” was allowed due to “excessive number of violations” which means four fouls get another five-second penalty.

As a result of the full review, Sainz dropped two places to sixth in the final classification.

He was initially awarded a five-second penalty, which he served at his second pit stop. But that has now been raised to 10 seconds.

The Spaniard then trails McLaren’s Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin.

Likewise, Mercedes’ Hamilton was moved from a five-to-ten-second penalty to fall behind team-mate George Russell to eighth.

Esteban Ocon is the biggest casualty among the new evidence presented to the referees. He made four separate penalties that combine for 30 seconds. His twelfth place becomes 14.

Also penalized were Pierre Gasly (now 10th in the final results), Williams duo Alex Albon (11th) and Logan Sargeant (13th) and AlphaTauri drivers Nick de Vries (17th) and Yuki Tsunoda (19th).

Teams reserve the right to appeal these recent decisions within a specified time period.

Motorsport.com understands that teams were frustrated by delays in monitoring track limits because they may have been able to warn drivers when they were shown a black and white flag that they were only one stroke away from receiving a five-second penalty.

The stewards added that they “highly recommend a solution to the track limits”.

The FIA ​​had previously lobbied the Red Bull Ring management to install gravel traps at the exits of Turns 9 and 10 – as used in the slow turn four. But these did not come to fruition since the circuit also hosts motorcycle championships including MotoGP.

Revised Austrian GP classification