F1 finds controversy on the wrong side of a white line

LONDON: Max Verstappen's dominance was on full display at Sunday's (Jul 2) Austrian Grand Prix, with his fifth win in a row for Red Bull from pole and with the fastest lap, but the white lines painted around the track provided as big a talking point.

The most technological of sports struggled to keep up as the world's top drivers, including Mercedes' seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton, repeatedly strayed off the strip of asphalt.

"Track limits" are simple words in the lexicon of motor racing: Drivers must keep all four wheels within the lines or, if repeat offenders, face the consequences.

On Sunday at Spielberg's Red Bull Ring the system was overwhelmed.

According to the governing FIA, race control had to review more than 1,200 potential breaches of the rule that occurred during the 71 lap race.

The end result was a flurry of post-race penalties and changes to the results, although not the podium finishers, five hours after the race ended and long after television viewers had switched off.

In all, nine of the 20 drivers were penalised either during the race or afterwards following a protest by Aston Martin.

Even the most seasoned of paddock insiders, in a sport with a long track record of controversy and confusion, were unimpressed.

"The track limits thing needs to be looked at because it makes us look a little bit amateurish," said Verstappen's boss Christian Horner, Formula One's longest-serving team principal.

Others questioned why, in a sport measured down to the last millimetre and microsecond and with super-computers processing vast amounts of data, it took so long for penalties to be applied.

"I’m at a total loss as to why the most tech advanced sport in the world can’t have a tech solution with sensors and