During Free Practice 1 and 2 in Austin ahead of the United States Grand Prix, a total of 207 lap times from 23 drivers were deleted for track limit violations.
In practice, at least, it is no big deal as drivers explore the limits of themselves and the machines underneath them, with a simple deletion of the affected lap coming.
However, in qualifying, a deleted lap time could have a driver dumped out early in qualifying, whilst three instances in the race earn a black and white flag, which becomes a five-second time penalty if a fourth lap is deleted.
Whilst the high number on Friday is eye-catching, it is unlikely to beat the chaos of the 2023 Austrian GP weekend, where more than 1,200 violations were recorded, leading to significantly altered race results once penalties were applied.
Topping the naughty list on Friday at Austin was Williams' Alex Albon, who in a difficult car to drive, had 20 infractions, with Lando Norris having 18 laps scrubbed from the history books.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the list, Valtteri Bottas picked up only one infraction throughout, doing so in FP2, as he and Esteban Ocon were the only drivers who competed in both sessions to get through one without a time deletion.
Check out the full list of track limit violations by driver below!
Austin Friday track limit violations
| Driver | FP1 | FP2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albon | 9 | 11 | 20 |
| Norris | 5 | 13 | 18 |
| Hadjar | 4 | 11 | 15 |
| Leclerc | 5 | 10 | 15 |
| Hamilton | 4 | 10 | 14 |
| Bortoleto | 5 | 8 | 13 |
| Antonelli | 4 | 9 | 13 |
| Bearman | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| Hulkenberg | 9 | 2 | 11 |
| Piastri | 1 | 10 | 11 |
| Sainz | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| Russell | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| Colapinto | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Gasly | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Stroll | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Alonso | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Lindblad | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Lawson | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Verstappen | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Herta | 3 | - | 3 |
| Ocon | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Pérez | - | 2 | 2 |
| Bottas | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Also interesting:
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