After the powers of Formula 1 removed Michael Massi as race director, changes were afoot. The impacts of this decision are impacting the sport this season. Now there is more controversy. This time the controversy relates to track limits.

For those who don’t remember, there was a level of unhappiness. This was due to Massi allowing only certain cars to pass the safety with a lap remaining in the final Grand Prix of the season. This meant that the two protagonists, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, could fight it out for the championship unhindered by lapped cars.

Of course, Hamilton had not come in for tires and Verstappen had, so it was an advantage for Red Bull. They took that advantage and won the title meaning Hamilton did not create history with his eighth championship. He is still level with Michael Schumacher with seven world titles.

Track limits had a massive impact on the Austrian Grand Prix.

During the Austrian Grand Prix drivers breached tracks limits 43 times. This led to four drivers getting five-second penalties in the race. This is not even counting the deleted laps during practice and qualifying. On top of that Sergio Perez had his Q3 result reversed and went back to his Q2 best time. This was only good enough for 13th but he used more tires than he should have.

This definitely impacted where he started in the sprint race which had a direct impact on where he started in the race. If he knew that his time was deleted in Q2, he could potentially have had time for another lap. Where this becomes an issue is that he started somewhat out of position and was then punted off the track by George Russel. This is impactful on both the driver’s and constructors’ championships.

While they are strictly breaking the rules, Formula 1 is a true spectacle. They are 20 of the best drivers in the world, doing everything they can to beat their rivals. If that means that the spectacle improves by allowing the curves to be the track limits then what is the harm?