Red Bull ace and the current world champion Max Verstappen is unstoppable at the moment. It seems like the whole universe is conspiring against the rest of the drivers to help Max conquer the world. It is true that the Dutchman is ruthless and competitive, but how come no team driver has been able to beat him in recent times? In the current season, Max’s teammate Sergio Perez has been the only driver to beat the Dutchman. But still, Checo’s teammate ensured that he finished second on those two occasions where he failed to win.
After the first four races, the Red Bull drivers shared two wins each. But from the Miami Grand Prix, Max Verstappen has taken full control of the season. He showed his domination again last weekend in the home Grand Prix for Red Bull and also won the Austrian Grand Prix very easily. The Dutchman has made his way all the way till seven for this season after nine races. Surprisingly, Ferrari did pretty well last weekend, finishing second with Charles Leclerc. However, other drivers on the grid violated the track limits quite often, and eight of them received penalties after the race. And that has reshuffled the final result of the Austrian GP.
Eight Drivers Got Penalties For Violating Track Limits Except For Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen was only four seconds faster than Charles Leclerc at the Red Bull Ring. However, there were constant cases of drivers breaking the track limit as they crossed the white line again and again. Hence, the Myriad Track Violations penalized the drivers post-race. But shockingly, there were eight drivers who received penalties after the Grand Prix. After that, Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz dropped to sixth after receiving 10 seconds penalty even though he finished fourth originally. But dropping Sainz helped the McLaren driver Lando Norris gain a place up as he went to fourth from fifth. But Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso found his place in fifth.
In this chaotic situation, Lewis Hamilton got a 10-second penalty and fell to eighth, and his teammate George Russell got up to 7th. Hence later, Lewis mentioned in the post-race interview that the authorities needed to find a better solution to the tracks. Moreover, Pierre Gasly of Alpine got another 10-second penalty as well and dropped to 10th from 9th, while his teammate Esteban Ocon got a big penalty of 30 seconds. The Alpha Tauri driver Nyck De Vries got a 15 seconds penalty, Williams’ Logan Sargeant got another 10 seconds penalty, and another Alpha Tauri driver Yuki Tsunoda got a five seconds penalty after the checkered flag.
FIA Is Conducting Review Of The Track Limit Infringement
About these countless penalties, Hamilton further mentioned that the track was an enjoyable place to drive before the track limitations. After the race, even the FIA mentioned that they would recommend changes to the Austrian circuit to prevent disturbances due to the constant violations of the track limits.
The governing body acknowledged that they are already conducting a full review of the track limit infringements. Moreover, it is clear that Max Verstappen had no problem driving through the difficult track of the Red Bull Ring. Hence, the question remains why the other drivers are facing so many hurdles when Max Verstappen is dominating the tracks everywhere?
