Twelve Post-race Penalties Mix Up Austrian GP Result

Nearly five hours after the chequered flag, the FIA has confirmed the final result of the Austrian Grand Prix after 12 additional post-race penalties were issued for track-limits violations.

Eight drivers were hit with time penalties — some multiple times — meaning the race result had to be reissued to reflect the changes in position.

However, the top three were not affected, meaning Max Verstappen retained his seventh victory of the season ahead of Charles Leclerc in second and Sergio Perez in third.

Carlos Sainz, who received a ten-second penalty, dropped from fourth place to sixth in the final classification, while Lewis Hamilton dropped from seventh place to eighth and Pierre Gasly lost ninth position to Lance Stroll and finished tenth.

All the other penalties were applied to drivers outside the points (details below).

The potential for additional penalties, which were applied on top of the eight penalties issued during and immediately after the race, came to light after Aston Martin protested the result in the belief that some track limits violations had gone unpenalised.

The stewards accepted the protest and revealed the FIA was already working through a total of 1,200 possible transgressions to determine if further penalties were necessary.

It was not until 9:30 p.m. local time that the full list of penalties was revealed.

Under F1’s regulations, three track-limits infringements results in a warning, with a fourth resulting in a five-second penalty and a fifth resulting in a ten-second penalty. Once a ten-second penalty has been issued, the process is reset for that driver and the counting of infringements restarts.

Such a large number of track limits violations in one race is unprecedented, with all the additional penalties resulting from drivers running wide in either Turn 9 or 10 at the end of the Red Bull Ring lap.

In their statement issuing the penalties, the stewards “very strongly recommend that a solution be found to the track limits situation at this circuit”.

The additional penalties were awarded as follows:

Carlos Sainz – 10-second penalty, drops from fourth place to sixth
Lewis Hamilton – 10-second penalty, drops from seventh place to eighth
Pierre Gasly – 10-seond penalty, drops from ninth place to 10th
Alex Albon – 10-second penalty, keeps 11th place
Esteban Ocon – 30-second penalty (two five-second penalties and two 10-second penalties), drops from 12th to 14th
Logan Sargeant – 10-second penalty, keeps 13th
Nyck de Vries – 15-second penalty (one five-second penalty and one 10-second penalty), drops from 15th to 17th
Yuki Tsunoda – five-second penalty, drops from 18th to 19th

Final results

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:25:33.607
2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +5.155s
3. Sergio Perez, Red Bull, +17.888s
4. Lance Norris, McLaren, +26.327s
5. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, +30.317s
6. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +31.377s*
7. George Russell, Mercedes, +48.403s
8. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +49.196s*
9. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +59.043s
10. Pierre Gasly, Alpine, +67.677s*
11. Alex Albon, Williams, +79.767s*
12. Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo, +1 lap
13. Logan Sargeant, Williams, +1 lap*
14. Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +1 lap*
15. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo, +1 lap
16. Oscar Piastri, McLaren, +1 lap
17. Nyck de Vries, AlphaTauri, +1 lap*
18. Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +1 lap*
19. Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, +1 lap*
Not classified: Nico Hulkenberg