De Vries given first penalty points for failing to leave Magnussen room

Nyck de Vries has been given the first penalty points on his super licence after forcing Kevin Magnussen off the track during the Austrian Grand Prix.

The stewards said the guidelines issued to drivers made it clear that the Haas driver was far enough alongside his rival that De Vries should have left him room. Magnussen was trying to overtake his rival around the outside of turn six at the time.

“At and from the apex of turn six, car 20 [Magnussen] was on the outside and was clearly level and
then in front of car 21 [De Vries]. In accordance with the Driving Standards Guidelines, Car 20 should have been given racing room.”

The guideline state that “in order for a car being overtaken to be required to give sufficient room to an overtaking car, the overtaking car needs to have a significant portion of the car alongside the car being overtaken and the overtaking manoeuvre must be done in a safe and controlled manner, while enabling the car to clearly remain within the limits of the track.”

In addition to his five-second time penalty, De Vries was given two penalty points on his licence. It’s his first endorsement since he made his F1 debut at Monza last year.

A total of nine drivers were given penalties during the Austrian Grand Prix. Seven of them – Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda, Carlos Sainz Jnr, Alexander Albon, Pierre Gasly, Logan Sargeant and Kevin Magnussen – were penalised for track limits infringements. All were give five-second time penalties.

One of those drivers, Tsunoda, was found to have left the track on a total of seven occasions. He was given an additional 10-second time penalty.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

AlphaTauri were also investigated for failing to serve Tsunoda’s five-second time penalty correctly. However after inspecting video of the incident the stewards ruled it was not clear whether his car was touched by a piece of pit equipment before his five-second penalty had been completed, and decided not to penalise him further.

“Video evidence from the FIA pit box overhead camera shows the jack moving towards the front of the car as the car stops,” said the stewards. “It appears very close but after the expiration of the five-second time penalty, there appears to be a small further forward movement leading us to have doubt as to whether the jack was touching the car during the penalty period. In this case the competitor is given the benefit of the doubt.”

The only other driver to receive a penalty was Esteban Ocon. The stewards ruled Alpine released his car in an unsafe fashion, forcing Sargeant to take evasive action, and gave him a five-second time penalty.

“Car two [Sargeant] was seen to have to significantly slow to avoid car 31 [Ocon] which was exiting the pit whilst car two was attempting to enter the pit box. Video also showed that car 31 was released after car two had passed the relevant pit lane marker.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2023 Austrian Grand Prix

• Mercedes left scratching heads by lack of performance at Austrian GP
• Verstappen’s determination to grab every point makes him a record-breaker
• Austrian GP track limits farce was avoidable like ‘IndyGate’ and Spa 2021 – Brown
• Alpine now “definitely beatable” for McLaren after upgrade – Brown
• Paddock Diary: 2023 Austrian Grand Prix

Browse all 2023 Austrian Grand Prix articles