In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton admitted frustration got the better of him in the Austrian Grand Prix.
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In brief
Austrian GP was confusing for Hamilton
Hamilton endured a disappointing race at the Red Bull Ring, suffering a handling imbalance in the early laps and becoming the first of many drivers to collect a penalty for exceeding track limits. He fell to seventh at the flag, which became after he received another penalty.
He spent several laps reporting other drivers for their track limits violations. Afterwards Hamilton admitted it hadn’t been one of his best performances.
“There are days when I can say I’m truly proud of myself and days like today when frustration takes over,” he said in a post on social media. “In a race it can feel like you’re hanging off a cliff and losing the strength to hold on.
“It’s confusing for us to have such strong performances one day and then be nowhere the next. But when you really care about what you’re doing you brush it off and keep fighting!”
F2 team “forget to serve penalty”
Kush Maini has been given a five-place grid drop for the next race he competes in after failing to serve a penalty during the Formula 2 feature race in Austria.
The Campos Racing driver was given a five-second time penalty for multiple track limit violations during the race. That should have been carried out during his pit stop, but the stewards noted “the team simply forgot to serve the penalty” when Maini came in to pit immediately ahead of his team mate Ralph Boschung.
As Maini later retired from the race the penalty could not be added to his race time. The stewards have therefore given him a grid drop which he is expected to be served this weekend at Silverstone.
Floersch loses first F3 points
Sophia Floersch has lost her first points finish of the season, and the first for a female driver in the FIA F3 series, after being disqualified from the Formula 3 feature race in Austria.
The PHM driver crossed the finishing line in ninth, but on inspection her car was found in breach of article 4.3.13 of the technical regulations as its front wing endplates were less than 70mm above the reference plane.
Montoya penalised for Colapinto clash
Sebastian Montoya was given a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Franco Colapinto on the final lap of the feature race. The two drivers went side-by-side into turn six, Montoya on the outside, when their front wheels touched. Both went off the track and dropped down the order.
The stewards deemed the Red Bull junior “wholly responsible” for the collision and added two penalty points to his licence. That dropped Montoya from 10th to 20th in the final classification. His and Floersch’s penalties elevated Pepe Marti and Leonardo Fornaroli into ninth and tenth respectively.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Floersch: ‘First points for PHM from P20 makes it all the sweeter’ (Formula 3)
‘We finished P9 which is insane. I love Red Bull Ring, it’s my favourite track but coming from P20, I knew that the top 15 was possible, but to actually get my first points now and also for the team is amazing. It makes me really, really proud because it was a really difficult race.’
‘Today’s race has, unfortunately, been in line with our performances this weekend; we have made a step back, compared to previous races, and of course we will need to analyse this over the next few days. At the same time, our focus now goes onto the next race in Silverstone, for the final leg of this back-to-back: we are bringing an important upgrade there, which can hopefully improve our performance.’
‘Today has been a very disappointing day for us, another PU failure on Nico’s car and obviously the car is not fast enough in dry conditions. We’ve got a lot of work in front of us, and we will keep on working.’
‘Unfortunately, we pitted Nyck on lap 12, the lap before the Safety Car was deployed, while others benefitted from the opportunity and were able jump him, which was very unlucky.’
Mike Krack: ‘Today was not our strongest performance, but we still managed to score nine important points. The podium fight was out of reach, but there was the opportunity to finish higher up with both drivers. We lost some track position early on when we chose to pit and stack both cars just as the VSC was ending and that proved quite costly for both drivers.’
Charges pending against man who drove on Chicago NASCAR course: Police (Chicago Sun Times)
‘How the 46-year-old was able to get access to the race course about 9pm wasn’t immediately clear, Chicago police said.’
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
What a difference a day makes #F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/xXHArI4o5p
— Chantelle-Emma Hilton (@Channerz_Maiden) July 2, 2023
There will be more time penalties applied to competitors in the Austrian GP. Thankfully not the top three. That results can be changed hours after the event’s ending is disappointing. That said, I won the Belgian GP in 1994 when I was in the airport lounge in Brussels #f1
— Damon Hill (@HillF1) July 2, 2023
If @Max33Verstappen committed six track limits violations the race director missed, @Charles_Leclerc can still win this… #F1 #AustrianGP #RaceFans
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) July 2, 2023
Delighted with “P2” today, counting only legit laps 😉🤣#AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/y7scGJRhNv
— 周冠宇 | Zhou Guanyu 🇨🇳 (@ZhouGuanyu24) July 2, 2023
Can’t wait to see @AlexPalou make it into @F1.
This guy is the real deal! Think McLaren have some sort of arrangement but obviously no seat available for a while – unles we can get Lando into Red Bull or Ferrari??— Tiff Needell 🏁 (@tiff_tv) July 2, 2023
Scott McLaughlin was not a fan of Benjamin Pedersen after this one.#Honda200 #IndyCar pic.twitter.com/97ybzF1pjo
— Christopher DeHarde (@CDeHarde) July 2, 2023
1998 Long Beach
Front row: B. Herta/B. Rahal
Winner: Alex Zanardi, Ganassi Honda, in a year en route to his 2nd title2023 Mid-Ohio
Front row: C. Herta/G. Rahal
Winner: Alex Palou/Ganassi Honda, in a race where he extends point lead trying for 2nd title #IndyCar #Honda200— Tony DiZinno (@tonydizinno) July 2, 2023
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On this day in motorsport
- 35 years ago today Alain Prost passed Ayrton Senna to win the French Grand Prix
