Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton have both been demoted as part of an updated race result due to track limit infringements in the Austrian Grand Prix.
Aston Martin protested the race result claiming the article in the Sporting Regulations relating to track limits was not enforced properly, but the FIA had already started reviewing a number of potential infringements that had been missed during the race. That meant an official race result was delayed in being published while they were worked through and penalties applied.
The Aston Martin protest was upheld as a formality with that work ongoing, and the stewards found there were 83 cases of lap times needing deleting, leading to multiple penalties.
Working on the basis that a fourth infringement earned a five-second time penalty and a fifth a 10-second penalty — before a “reset” that meant another four infringements were required for the next five-second penalty — Sainz was handed a 10-second penalty that drops him from fourth to sixth place behind Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso.
Hamilton also gets a 10-second penalty and loses a spot to teammate George Russell to finish eighth, while Pierre Gasly is the other driver hurt in the points, losing 10 seconds to fall to 10th behind Lance Stroll.
There was also a 10-second time penalty for Alex Albon who had originally finished 11th, 30 seconds for Esteban Ocon from 12th, 10 seconds for Logan Sargeant in 13th as well as 15 seconds for Nyck de Vries and 10 for Yuki Tsunoda to leave the AlphaTauris 17th and 19th respectively.
“The stewards very strongly recommend that a solution be found to the track limits situation at this circuit,” the decision added.
The FIA had already issued an earlier statement reiterating its request from previous years to have gravel traps installed at the corners in question to avoid repeats.
“Regarding the track limits infringements at the 2023 FIA Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix, we note that due to the specifics of the circuit layout and the propensity of many drivers to repeatedly drive outside of the boundaries of the track, an unprecedented situation arose which resulted in all potential infringements not being able to be reviewed during the race,” an FIA spokesperson said.
“Prior to the submission of a protest against the result, we had already begun a full review of the track limits infringements … During the Grand Prix, race control was tasked with reviewing well over 1200 instances where a car was reported as potentially leaving the track.
“In order to address the issue for future events we will renew our recommendation to the circuit to add a gravel trap at the exit of Turns 9 and 10. We note that while this is not a straightforward solution in relation to other series that race here, it has proved to be very effective at other corners and circuits with similar issues.”
Earlier on Sunday, the FIA also dismissed a petition to the right of review from McLaren looking to overturn a penalty against Lando Norris in Canada, judging there was no significant and relevant new element to deliberate over.
