The FIA have responded to criticism of the track limits at last weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, in which several drivers were issued penalties throughout the three days of on-track action. No fewer than 43 separate track limits violations were recorded by stewards during Sunday's Grand Prix, with Lando Norris, Zhou Guanyu, Pierre Gasly and Sebastian Vettel all hit with five-second penalties for repeated offences. In addition, each of those four drivers has been given a penalty point on their Super Licence for the usual 12-month period. Before the Grand Prix, Sergio Perez was a high-profile victim of the track limits, with his transgression seeing him drop from fourth to 13th on the grid for Saturday's Sprint race.
FIA follow up on track limits approach
However, following criticism from some quarters over the excessive number of recorded violations, an FIA spokesperson emphasised that the monitoring of track limits during the Austrian Grand Prix was consistent with all previous races this year. The spokesperson added that the white line bordering the tarmac is used as the defined limit of the track, and cited Article 33.3 of the Sporting Regulations, which states that drivers are given two 'strikes' for crossing the white line with all four wheels, followed by a black and white flag for the third infringement, and referral to the stewards for each subsequent infringement. F1's interpretation of track limits for 2022 are stricter than last year, when different rules and instructions were applied to certain corners.
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