Lewis Hamilton Triggers Aston Martin-Austrian GP Protest That Could Change Fernando Alonso’s Fate at a Heavy Cost

Track limit infringements plagued the Austrian Grand Prix weekend right from the qualifying session on Friday to the race on Sunday. Even though the FIA enforced the track limits very strictly and penalized a lot of drivers, Lewis Hamilton kept complaining over the radio that not all the drivers were being penalized for their violations.

There were a total of nine 5-second penalties awarded during the race for track limit violations. Three went to AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, with the other drivers to have received a penalty being Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Logan Sargent, and Kevin Magnussen. Apart from them, a lot of drivers managed to get away with a black and white flag.

According to the team radio of Hamilton, both Perez and Norris violated the track limits, as well Sainz as it was seen

If FIA is fair, Fernando should be on the podium

— Aston Martin F1 updates (@startonpole) July 2, 2023

After Hamilton received a time penalty for going off the track in turn 10, he kept notifying his team about the drivers in front of him who were doing the same. While chasing Sergio Perez, Hamilton got on to his radio multiple times and said, “This guy has been off every single time. Turn 10!”

It was a similar story when Hamilton was stuck behind Lando Norris. He got on to the radio and said, “He [Norris] was off at Turn 10. Are these guys even watching?” Hamilton asked on the radio if the FIA was watching, as both Norris and Perez should have been penalized, but no action was taken..

Andy Stevenson, Aston Martin sporting director, on his way to the stewards, notice the amount of paper he is bringing

📸@AlbertFabrega pic.twitter.com/BOleMiQtco

— Aston Martin F1 updates (@startonpole) July 2, 2023

Aston Martin looking to gain from Hamilton’s comments

After the race, Aston Martin launched a protest regarding the track limit violations. They claimed that the FIA did not penalize all the drivers for their track limit infringements. This would include the likes of Perez and Norris.

According to the stewards, more than 100 laps were deleted in total due to track limit violations, and Aston Martin has asked the FIA to reconcile all the deleted laps and their respective penalties. This might lead to the final standings being shaken up considerably.

🚨 | The reason for Aston Martin’s protest is related to track limits.

There were more than 100 deleted lap times during the race#F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/E5pBMjwEKF

— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) July 2, 2023

Fernando Alonso finished P6 at the end of the race, 3.990 seconds behind Lando Norris and 8.980 seconds behind Carlos Sainz. If penalties are applied to both Norris and Sainz, there is a chance that Alonso might climb up to P4, just behind Sergio Perez. If further penalties are applied to Perez as well, then there might as well be a minute chance of Alonso getting a podium.

FIA reports there were 1200 times they had to look at potential track limit infringements and after the submission of Aston Martin, their decision will be published after they review every one of them

We go to drink beer now

— Aston Martin F1 updates (@startonpole) July 2, 2023

As of now, the protest has been upheld. The FIA has reported that they will review every single one of the 1200 track limit violations that have occurred during the race. The final race result will be updated after the whole process in complete, and it is expected that more penalties are incoming for several drivers.

Lewis Hamilton found it insane how often Lando Norris went off the track

After the race ended, Hamilton commented about the track limit violations by Lando Norris and Sergio Perez. The Mercedes driver said, “He [Norris] was going off so much, it was insane. As soon as he got past me he went off like at least 10 times.”

📻 | Lewis Hamilton: “Anyone got penalties yet?”

📻 | Toto: “Lewis they’re all gonna get penalties in front of you. All of them, so keep going.”

— deni (@fiagirly) July 2, 2023

Hamilton had similar comments to make about Perez. He said, “Perez would go off turn nine, turn 10 and he didn’t get a penalty.” It was quite evident that he was very frustrated about the way FIA decided to hand out the penalties.

With FIA upholding Aston Martin’s protest, it is now only a matter of time before the final results are revealed. Aston Martin would hope that Alonso moves up the order once the penalties are applied to the appropriate drivers.