Lewis Hamilton gets penalty with 7 other drivers as Austrian GP result changed

Lewis Hamilton has been hit with a 10-second time penalty with seven other F1 drivers also being penalised after the stewards agreed to allow Aston Martin’s protest of the Austrian Grand Prix result. The Mercedes star had already served a five-second time penalty during the race but the Briton has now been hit with a major blow which has resulted in him being demoted from his grid position along with Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly.

The decision sees Hamilton, who had finished seventh, drop down to eighth place behind Mercedes team-mate George Russell. Carlos Sainz has also been hit with a 10-second time penalty, meaning Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso will move up to fourth and fifth respectively, while the Ferrari man will have to make do with sixth place.

Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant also suffered the same fate as Hamilton and Sainz, seeing the former move down to P10 behind Lance Stroll. Aston Martin will be glad they pursued the protest as both of their drivers Alonso and Stroll received elevated positions as a result of the subsequent punishments dished out by the FIA.

All the penalties were in regard to Article 33.3 of the FIA regulations, which relates to exceeding track limits – something which had become a big talking point over the weekend with several drivers falling foul of the rule across the three days.

Estaban Ocon was hit with the heftiest punishment, receiving a 30-second penalty while Nyck de Vries was hit with a 15-second penalty and Yuki Tsunoda got away with just a five-second penalty.

The stewards decided to allow a “reset” to be applied due to excessive number of infringements. The counting of infringements restarts after another four infringements, whereby a five-second penalty was given and after five, a 10-second penalty would be handed out.

The official document added that “The Stewards very strongly recommend that a solution be found to the track limits situation at this circuit”, with a recommendation for gravel traps to be introduced for Turn 9 and Turn 10, which could prevent drivers from going beyond the kerb.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff also suggested after the race that sausage kerbs, which are raised and would force drivers to slow down heading into those corners, could be brought back.

Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok tweeted his thoughts on the matter with his own solution: “Back in 2013, I proposed to the FIA a “natural deterrent” (grass / gravel) on the edge of the kerb for 5m with how much ever tarmac beyond that,” he said. “I still believe that this is a good solution. Tracks will have a challenge maintaining this edge, but nobody will gain an advantage.”

Mercedes star Hamilton appeared to complain about a braking issue impacting his ability to keep within track limits over his team radio, having already received a black and white flag and a five-second time penalty during the race.

The Brit had also been complaining about other drivers not receiving penalties for breaching the same rule, namely Sergio Perez, shouting to his engineers over the radio: “Perez went off at turn 10. If they’re dishing these things out they might as well know. This guy has been off every single time, turn 10 again.”

The Red Bull driver managed to get away with just a black and white flag across the 71-lap race as he battled back from 15th on the grid to finish on the podium in third place.

Lando Norris, meanwhile, admitted before Aston Martin’s protest that Hamilton had been very fortunate to just be given a five-second penalty as he called out the FIA for not dishing out stricter punishments to the Mercedes man.

He said on Hamilton: “Yeah, I was going to do a live commentary at every corner, pretty much. He only got a five-second penalty? It should be way more! He had about four strikes in one lap!”