Formula 1 drivers are at a greater risk of incurring race bans as stewards are issuing far more penalty points in 2024 compared to last year.
Stewards handed out just two penalty points over the first five races of last year. They issued 18 over the same period this season, a nine-fold increase.The majority of those came at last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix. Five drivers received penalties which put a total of 11 penalty points on their licence. Any driver who collects 12 penalty points over a 12-month period received an automatic one-race ban.
The majority of the penalty points have been issued for incidents in which one driver collided with another. The FIA stewards are enforcing new guidelines this year which have toughened up their enforcement of the rules. This came partly in response to drivers pointing out that the five-second time penalties issued for some infringements were often too lenient.
Sergio Perez is in an even more perilous position having reached eight penalty points at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. He won’t have any points deducted from his licence for another 12 rounds.
The driver who has felt the wrath of the stewards most keenly this year is Fernando Alonso. In the space of three rounds he has gone from having a clean licence to halfway towards a ban, due to a pair of three-point sanctions.
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The first was his hotly-debated penalty for slowing abruptly in front of George Russell on the penultimate lap in Australia, leading to the Mercedes driver’s crash. The second came in last weekend’s sprint race where he tangled with Carlos Sainz Jnr as he attempted to re-pass the Ferrari driver in turn nine.
But he and other drivers nearing the 12-point limit will have to keep in mind the stewards’ resolve to clamp down on incidents in races whenever they find themselves in a wheel-to-wheel battle.
No F1 driver has ever been banned for reaching this limit. However it has happened in other categories which have the same rules. Two Formula 2 drivers collected bans this way during 2022 and another did in 2019.
The closest any F1 driver has come to receiving a ban in this way is Pierre Gasly, who reached 10 points at the end of 2022. He avoided collecting any penalty points for his collision with team mate Esteban Ocon at Melbourne last year, at which time he was two points away from a ban, and by today’s standards would surely have been in much more trouble.
Drivers who have collected penalty points in 2024
| Driver | Event | Session | Infringement | Penalty | Penalty points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sergio Perez | Saudi Arabia | Grand prix | Unsafe release | 5 second time penalty | 1 |
| Kevin Magnussen | Saudi Arabia | Grand prix | Collision with Alexander Albon | 10 second time penalty | 3 |
| Fernando Alonso | Australia | Grand prix | Causing an incident | Drive-through penalty | 3 |
| Fernando Alonso | China | Sprint race | Causing an incident with Carlos Sainz Jnr | 10 second time penalty | 3 |
| Kevin Magnussen | China | Grand prix | Collision with Yuki Tsunoda | 10 second time penalty | 2 |
| Lance Stroll | China | Grand prix | Collision with Daniel Ricciardo | 10 second time penalty | 2 |
| Logan Sargeant | China | Grand prix | Overtook Nico Hulkenberg under Safety Car conditions | 10 second time penalty | 2 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | China | Grand prix | Overtook Nico Hulkenberg under Safety Car conditions | Grid drop: 3 places | 2 |
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2024 Chinese Grand Prix
- Mercedes cleared over Hamilton pit stop infraction as ‘nearly all teams in breach’
- Aston Martin petitions FIA to review Alonso’s penalty for Sainz collision
- “You need to be more on it”: 12 unheard radio exchanges from the Chinese GP
- Ricciardo needs to show “head-turning form” for 2025 chance – Horner
- With fourth format change in as many years, F1 relegated sprint races to a sideshow
Señor Sjon
22nd April 2024, 12:56
Magnussen en Stroll both took out a RB and got the same penalty as Sargeant who was a few cm short at the pit-exit line. No one could see that difference and due to him pitting a lap later, he couldn’t give the position back. That should have been handled differently.
An Sionnach
22nd April 2024, 13:00
Since it’s not possible to know who was first to the line here, they should just order them back to where they should be. For George Russell they can install a television so he can review the instant replay while fiddling with the steering wheel!
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd April 2024, 16:49
Señor Sjon An Sionnach
I agree regarding Sargeant’s case that since he couldn’t have voluntarily given the position back due to limited visibility with his precise SC2 line positioning relative to Hulkenberg, race control should’ve simply ordered him, or the team informed him.
Nick T.
23rd April 2024, 2:47
It is a travesty. Imagine if it happened to a driver that actually mattered.
An Sionnach
22nd April 2024, 12:58
Alonso’s latest penalty is not from the same planet as the one where George’s lunge into the chicane on Piastri in Suzuka is not a penalty!
Nick T.
23rd April 2024, 2:48
Once again showing the double standard Alonso has always been held to.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd April 2024, 13:46
I still wouldn’t give importance to penalty points until a race ban due to them is actually issued, in fact I like the massive amount of points they’re dishing out because if they end up with 4 drivers on 11 points and all 4 get involved in some incident and suddenly no penalty for anyone it’ll make a mockery of the penalty system: exposure is sometimes needed to get changes.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
22nd April 2024, 14:08
@esploratore1 I mostly agree, but just wait until a steward with a vendetta against a particular driver gets an opportunity to dish out the race banning points and you can be sure they’ll be doing everything they can to get those points issued.
Nick T
23rd April 2024, 2:49
Like Johnny Herbert did to Alonso at Australia? A guy who has bad blood with the guy and even blamed Alonso for upsetting his wife.
anon
23rd April 2024, 6:47
Nick T, what Herbert said was that, following the incident where Alonso shouted insults at him after a race, he simply brushed Alonso’s complaints off, but made an aside comment where he said that his wife thought that Alonso was behaving rudely.
What he therefore actually said was milder than what you claim he said, and your post comes across as exaggerating what he said in order to demonise him more aggressively.
MichaelN
22nd April 2024, 14:55
Yeah, as the Gasly episode showed, they’ll just stop giving points to prevent a ban.
Until proven otherwise, these are meaningless.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd April 2024, 16:51
MichaelN I doubt the lack of penalty points for the Ocon collision was actually to avoid him getting a race ban.
Probably just the hectic overall situation impacted decision-making.
MichaelN
22nd April 2024, 18:43
It wasn’t just that, he also escaped a bunch of points also at the end of 2022.
They were also happy to give Sainz a penalty there in Australia, despite there being two other more serious incidents in the same restart. What helped Gasly in that race was probably that the stewards tend to ignore intra-team incidents, for which there isn’t any justification in the rules, but hey, what can you do.
Nick T.
23rd April 2024, 2:51
It was comical how obviously they were in avoiding giving a suspension to Gasly.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
22nd April 2024, 14:03
Had Alonso had 11 points on his license, they’d have never given him 3 for that teeny tiny contact with Sainz. They’d have given him a grid penalty and that’s it.
It’s unbelievable that Logan got 2 penalty points for that incident, just as many as Magnussen and Lance, who also SHOULDN’T have been given penalty points. Sporting penalties are enough for that kind of stuff (grid positions, time penalties, whatever).
The fact that a driver could be forced to miss a grand prix because of a series of clashes while battling other cars (like the one with Alonso vs Sainz) is mind blowing.
RandomMallard
22nd April 2024, 14:51
@fer-no65 I’d argue that running into the back of another car, with plenty of warning, while still (sort of) under Safety Car conditions is absolutely worth penalty points. In fact, I though 2 points was relatively lenient for such a silly and irresponsible move.
Riccard
23rd April 2024, 8:04
Agreed: running into the back of the car in front when you *aren’t* trying to overtake but are just trying to get round the corner safely, is exactly where penalty points are justified.
See Stroll, Magnussen
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
23rd April 2024, 6:41
if vowels didn’t appeal that penalty he should be fired.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
22nd April 2024, 16:44
Penalty Points were once introduced to prevent dangerous driving.
Now it’s just a thing they do for each and every dumb thing. Who was endangered by Sargeant pit line error? Nobody, but here we are.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
22nd April 2024, 18:39
Penalty points were introduced to ensure that repeated minor infringements had some consequence. The “dangerous driving” stuff was made up years later when some drivers started to run the risk of race bans because they couldn’t stay within track limits.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
22nd April 2024, 20:02
How is going over track limits on a qualifying lap “bad behaviour” that needs more penalty than invalidating the lap, exactly?
How is Sargeant’s “infraction” of being a few cm’s behind at a white line that he couldn’t see from his cockpit “bad behaviour?”
Leksa (@leksa)
23rd April 2024, 14:00
Penalty points system was created because of Grosjean. In theory, it should be a deterrent for reckless driving. But IMO most collisions happen because of a human error, i.e, driver misjudging their braking point or space around the car. You can’t increase spatial awareness with penalties, nor you can erase human errors with penalties. On the contrary, for example, if you’re playing electric shock maze, the harsher the penalty, the more likely you are to goof up.
Unless you crash on purpose, I don’t think driver should be penalized. Collisions and contacts are integral part of motorsport. It’s ridiculous to even want to eliminate them. People love Senna-Prost type of clashes. That’s also the reason why no one will watch AI racing, because it’s going to be utterly boring without human errors.
MichaelN
22nd April 2024, 18:48
As @red-andy notes, it was meant to be a penalty for repeated bad behaviour, which is something that cannot be penalized in any other way as other penalties are tied to specific incidents.
That drivers tried to pretend they were unfairly penalized for ‘minor’ incidents doesn’t make it true (they will always complain about everything). And in any case, not being in control of their car so frequently that the penalty points for track limit infringements become an issue is a pretty worrying state of affairs that probably does require a time out and a rethinking of their approach.
Riker (@corsair)
22nd April 2024, 17:05
How is a 3 place grid drop equivalent to a 10 second time penalty? Sigh.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
23rd April 2024, 8:10
Can a team field two cars in a GP if a driver is banned?
Aquila_GD
23rd April 2024, 16:10
How is Stroll not at the top of this list?
sumedh
23rd April 2024, 18:29
I have a contrarian view. I think stewards are going to be harsh and won’t even mind a race ban. In fact, even Liberty will be for it. Think o fit this way, the only real big story of this season has been the Bearman debut and the consequent fairy-tale Sainz win. Both of them occurred because a regular driver had to be benched.
Imagine if there are a few more debutants like this through the year. Liberty would love it.