Aston Martin Played a Mastercard to Boost Fernando Alonso’s Position Through Precedented Track Limit Penalty

The Austrian GP turned out to be one of the more exciting races of the season, with numerous overtakes throughout the grid. However, it was mostly overshadowed by the innumerable track limit infringements and the subsequent penalties – something that Aston Martin benefitted from, as Fernando Alonso managed to gain a position after the race was over.

The issue with track limits had already begun during Qualifying on Friday as multiple laps were deleted for drivers who had all four wheels over the white line on the exit of turn 9 and turn 10. The same thing repeated on Sunday as drivers kept going off the track to gain some time.

The FIA dished out numerous time penalties during the race to the drivers who violated the track limits. However, Aston Martin were not satisfied as they believed that the FIA had overlooked many track limit infringements and not awarded penalties to many drivers.

Right after the race was over, Aston Martin lodged a complaint with the FIA, claiming that there should have been more time penalties handed out. Aston’s Sporting Direction Andy Stevenson was spotted on his way to the stewards’ office with a huge bundle of notes in his hand, to discuss the whole track limits penalty issue with the stewards.

Aston Martin tracked the track limits

Turns out that Aston Martin had been keeping an eye on the track limit violations that were being made during the race. Fernando Alonso was informed by his team during the race that a time penalty will be awarded to Carlos Sainz. The team instructed Alonso to stay within the lines and try to close the gap to the drivers ahead.

Following the detailed investigation by the FIA, a plethora of time penalties were handed out to several drivers. However, the only driver above Alonso who received penalties was Sainz. The Ferrari driver was handed a 10-second time penalty, as estimated by Aston Martin.

The Aston Martin masterplan paid off and Alonso benefitted directly from this. His finishing position was promoted from P6 to P5 as Sainz dropped down from P4 to P6. McLaren’s Lando Norris also saw a rise in position as he was promoted to P4 from P5.

Aston Martin loses ground to Red Bull

Heading into the Austrian GP, Alonso was 9 points adrift of Sergio Perez in the Driver’s Championship standings. One of the main aims for Alonso was to overtake Perez in the standings. And with Perez’s disastrous Qualifying on Saturday, it seemed as if half the job was already done.

However, Perez put on a brilliant performance during the Sprint race to finish P2 behind the untouchable Max Verstappen. The Mexican followed this up with another brilliant recovery drive on Sunday. Perez fought his way through the field from P15 to finish on the podium.

After the Austrian GP weekend, Alonso is now 17 points behind Perez in the standings. Another slip-up from Perez might be enough for Alonso to grab second place in the standings.