It would be a huge problem for a driver to receive too many penalty points on their licence and be suspended for a race as a punishment. Especially drivers who are fighting for the world title cannot take such a punishment. Nevertheless there are some Formula 1 drivers who have to watch out for the next Grands Prix.
Penalty point system
In the 2014 season, the FIA introduced a penalty point system: a Grand Prix driver can afford a maximum of eleven penalty points in a twelve-month period. Anyone who accumulates twelve or more penalty points will receive a penalty. In this case that means a race suspension. It once happened to Romain Grosjean. For now he is the only one who has suffered the consequence of too many penalty points.
As mentioned, the number of penalty points applies over a twelve month period. This means that drivers take their penalty points from one season to the next. The driver who has to watch out for a suspension the most is Yuki Tsunoda. He will start the next season with eight penalty points.
Here are the other drivers:
- Sergio Pérez 7
- Max Verstappen 7
- Nicholas Latifi 6
- Sebastian Vettel 6
- Nikita Mazepin 6
- Lance Stroll 5
- Lando Norris 5
- Valtteri Bottas 5
- Pierre Gasly 3
- Fernando Alonso 2
- Lewis Hamilton 2
- Esteban Ocon 1
- George Russell 1
No penalty points:
- Mick Schumacher
- Guanyu Zhou