Penalty chaos in Formula 1
Route operators should renew the course in Spielberg
7/3/2023 5:06 am
F1 world champion Verstappen said after qualifying that it was harder to keep to the piste boundaries in Spielberg than on any other course. The peculiarities of the route actually caused a number of penalties. A redesign of the route should prevent a repetition.
It was already dark and the drivers had long since left the Formula 1 circuit in Spielberg when the result was finally known five hours after the end of the race. Because around 1,200 cases of illegal leaving the track had to be checked, there was a chaos of penalties after the Austrian Grand Prix. Eight drivers were subsequently fined, some of them severe, because they repeatedly failed to stay within the white lane markings in accordance with the rules.
World champion Max Verstappen said on Friday after qualifying that it was more difficult to keep to the piste boundaries in Spielberg than on any other course. “At the end of a lap, the tires get too hot, your car slips more, and then a small wave or compression is enough to push you off the ideal line,” said Verstappen: “We looked like idiots, like amateurs – unbelievable! ” A repetition of such an undignified situation must be prevented at all costs. The track operators were therefore recommended to renovate the circuit and install a gravel bed at the exit of the affected corners nine and ten. Then the drivers would automatically slow down because they would no longer risk getting stuck in the gravel.
The Aston Martin racing team had lodged a protest against the race result. The accusation: Not all offenses were punished during the run. This was actually the case and was made up for. The final classification was not published until around 9:45 p.m. Record world champions Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes, Carlos Sainz from Ferrari and Pierre Gasly from Alpine were pushed back by their penalties and lost championship points. “Repeated leaving the track without good reason” was the official justification.
Esteban Ocon received the most sensitive sanction
Eight penalties were imposed during the race and 96 lap times were canceled. Due to the mass of penalties, the race result from Sunday afternoon changed, but the podium places were not affected and world champion Max Verstappen remained the winner of the race. Ferrari star Charles Leclerc finished second in Styria ahead of Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull.
The most severe sanction was given to Frenchman Esteban Ocon from the Alpine team, who received four penalties. A total of 30 seconds was added to his race time. In addition, violations by Nyck de Vries (Alpha Tauri/15 seconds), Lewis Hamilton (10), Pierre Gasly (10), Carlos Sainz (10), Logan Sargeant (Williams/10), Alexander Albon (Williams/10) and Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri/5) sanctioned.
A spokesman for the world motorsport association Fia explained that an “unprecedented situation had arisen” and that due to potentially many rule violations, not all possible violations could be checked during the race. The peculiarities of the route and the tendency of many drivers to repeatedly drive outside the white lines contributed to this. There had been big problems in Spielberg all weekend because the drivers couldn’t keep their cars inside the white line.