The Aston Martin F1 team has protested the result of the Austrian Grand Prix, claiming “a number of cars” were not penalised for exceeding track limits.
Seven drivers received penalties for continuously going beyond the white lines that define the limits of the track during Sunday’s race, with race control deleting in excess of 100 laps in total as a result of drivers straying wide.
Under F1’s regulations, drivers receive a warning after exceeding track limits three times, followed by a penalty for the fourth transgression.
Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Logan Sargeant, Yuki Tsunoda, Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton and Kevin Magnussen all received in-race or post-race five-second penalties for track limits.
However, Aston Martin believes other drivers should have been penalised during the race but slipped through the net. Its two drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, finished sixth and 10th.
After Aston Martin lodged a protest against the results, the stewards summoned a representative of the team and issued the following statement: “The Stewards, having become aware of the existence of a number of deleted laps (due to exceeding track limits) that were drawn to our attention after the receipt of the protest, have requested Race Control to perform a reconciliation of all deleted laps with penalties applied.”
Three hours after the end of the race, a follow up communication from the FIA said it was still analyzing over 1,200 possible infringements.
“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, which is ongoing. During the Grand Prix, Race Control was tasked with reviewing well over 1200 instances where a car was reported as potentially leaving the track.
“The results will be updated once the review of those which were not able to be reviewed during the race is complete.
“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.”
A successful protest could see further penalties applied to the results of the Austrian Grand Prix.