Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz among eight drivers handed post-race penalties at Austrian Grand Prix

ByThe Editorial Team

Published 02/07/2023 at 21:38 GMT+1

Lewis Hamilton is one of eight drivers to have been handed a time penalty after the Austrian Grand Prix. Seven penalties were handed out during the race for repeated track limits violations – but more followed after Aston Martin lodged a protest. Although none of the penalties affected the top three drivers, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz dropped from P4 to P6, while Hamilton dropped from P7 to P8.

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Eight drivers have been struck with further time penalties after the Austrian Grand Prix, including Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

It was business as usual for Red Bull's Max Verstappen who claimed his fifth straight victory of the season with an almost flawless display.

But there was drama as seven penalties were handed out during the race for repeated track limits violations – but more followed after Aston Martin lodged a protest.

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A further 12 penalties were issued post-race for drivers with 83 more lap times deleted.

As a result, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz dropped from P4 to P6 because of a 10-second time penalty, with Lando Norris (McLaren) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) climbing to fourth and fifth respectively.

Hamilton had 10 seconds added to his time and dropped from P7 to P8, behind team-mate George Russell. Alpine's Pierre Gasly lost a point as he dropped from P9 to P10 behind Lance Stroll.

AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda had five seconds added to his time, Williams drivers Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant received one new 10-second penalty each, while Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri) was given two post-race penalties, totalling an additional 15 seconds.

Remarkably, a substantial 30 seconds were added to Alpine's Esteban Ocon’s race time.

In a statement, the stewards – who met at 5.30pm UK time – said: “The protest was lodged against the accuracy of the Provisional Classification.

“The stewards first considered if the protest was admissible.

"The stewards determined that as it was lodged on time and complied with the requirements of Chapter 13 of the FIA International Sporting Code, it was an admissible protest.

"An examination of the list of deleted lap times provided to the stewards by Race Control, revealed that a number of track limit infringements had not previously been referred to the stewards for potential penalty.

"It was determined that some of these infringements warranted a penalty that was not previously applied when the Provisional Classification was published.

"These penalties will be reflected in the Final Classification.

"Accordingly, the protest is upheld and the protest fee is returned to the competitor."