Esteban Ocon has broken his own record of receiving the most penalties in a single Grand Prix, with five separate violations levelled against him during and after Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix. No fewer than ten drivers were hit with time penalties for exceeding track limits in Austria, and Ocon was the worst affected with 30 seconds added to his overall race time from four separate incidents of exceeding track limits. In addition, the Frenchman also received a penalty for an unsafe release, meaning he has broken his record of three penalties in a Grand Prix from this year's Bahrain Grand Prix. Such was the frequency of drivers crossing the white lines around the edge of the Red Bull Ring that the FIA were unable to review all 1,200 offences, and the official race result was not known until several hours after the chequered flag had flown.
Ocon unaware of 30-second penalty in interview
To emphasise how long it took to apply penalties and finalise the result, Ocon was oblivious to his track limits violations when he took his post-race interview, and instead suggested that he had made extra efforts to stay on the tarmac. "No, I didn't [get a penalty for track limits], I got it for an unsafe release. I stayed away from trouble!" Ocon told media, including RacingNews365.com . "That's something that I never usually get. I never go off the track, and this weekend, I was quite disappointed that I did in qualifying. "I went all the way up to the limit, three strikes, and then I backed off from there, and I took more margin. And we got another five second [penalty] for something else, so unfortunately, we're not rewarded." Ocon did not subsequently speak to the media after having had the 30 seconds added to his overall race time, though the penalties only dropped the Frenchman from 12th to 14th, meaning his misdemeanours did not cost him any points.
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