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Eight Formula 1 racers have been penalised post-race when stewards ruled on Sunday that they committed track limit violations in the final race of Austrian Grand Prix 2023. The list of the racers includes names of top racers like Carlos Sainz of Ferrari and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. Additional 12 penalties were imposed following seven in-race time penalties and deletion of 83 lap times due to track violations. All the eight race drivers have been penalised for "leaving the track without a justifiable reason multiple time."
Since earlier a number of racers were not penalised for exceeding track limits on July 2, Aston Martin filed a post-race protest. Later on, Sunday evening, the stewards penalised eight drivers. The stewards in their official statement said that a reset was necessary due to the excessive number of track limit infringements. The drivers would get a five-second penalty after every four infringements and a 10-second infringement for every five infringements. The penalties were added to the drivers’ race results, causing a major reshuffle in the final results.
After the penalty, the top three remained the same, with Max Verstappen leading the charts followed by Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez. The list includes Carlos, who dropped from fourth to sixth, whereas McLaren Mercedes’ Lando Norris and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso gained a position. The reshuffling also saw Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes dropping from seventh to eighth, swapping places with his teammate George Russell.
Apart from that, Alpine driver Esteban Ocon got a 30-second penalty and fell two-spots to 14th. In addition, Alpha Tauri’s Nyck de Vries was handed a 15-second penalty, while his teammate Yuki Tsunoda got a five-second penalty.
