The governor of Styria has slammed climate activists for attempting to disrupt Sunday’s Austrian GP.
Just before the start of the F3 support race at the Red Bull Ring, several protesters breached the spectator fences and made it as far as the middle of a gravel trap - reportedly with the intention to chain themselves to the circuit.
"Two of them made it to the gravel bed at turn 3 before they were stopped by the organiser’s security staff," a police spokesman confirmed to Kronen Zeitung newspaper.
"They apparently came onto the track via the western, wooded part."
Two men and a woman were arrested, charged with trespassing, theft of a service as they did not have tickets, property damage and other offenses - and strongly condemned by the visiting Styrian governor, Christopher Drexler.
"To me, these people are not activists, they are dangerous," he said. "They are taking tens of thousands of peaceful motorsport fans hostage and thereby damaging the climate - namely that of our society."
Drexler added that the activists endanger the drivers, the spectators, the security personnel, "and ultimately our joint efforts to protect the climate".