Several drivers start the coming season with penalty points

In case of a serious offence or causing an accident, the stewards can decide to hand out a penalty point. This will be added to the driver's licence and when the total of 12 is reached, a suspension will follow. This has never happened in the history of Formula 1 since the system was introduced in 2014, although Lewis Hamilton came close in 2020. What is the state of play now?

Reduction after one year

The system works in such a way that the penalty points awarded remain in place for one year. The points awarded at any one time are deducted from the total after exactly one year and with quite a few being awarded in 2020, not everyone goes into the new season with a clean sheet. Hamilton, who at one point came close to the limit, now has some breathing space, as many points have been taken away. However, he still leads the list, along with George Russell.

Lewis Hamilton - 6 penalty points

Austria - 2 (Not slowing down enough under yellow flag)
Austria - 2 (Causing collision)
Italy - 2 (Pitted during closed pit lane)

George Russell - 6 penalty points

Great Britain - 3 (Too little brake under yellow flag)
Turkey - 3 (Ditto)

Lando Norris - 5 penalty points

Styria - 2 (Overtaking under yellow flag)
Turkey - 3 (Not slowing down enough under yellow flag)

Kimi Räikkönen - 4 penalty points

Hungary - 1 (Car placed incorrectly on grid)
Tuscany - 1 (Wrongly entered the pit lane)
Eifel - 2 (Causing a collision)

Antonio Giovinazzi - 3 penalty points

Great Britain - 1 (Incorrect behaviour behind safety car)
Italy - 2 (Pitted during closed pit lane)

Lance Stroll - 3 penalty points

Portugal - 2 (Causing collision)
Portugal - 1 (Ignoring track limits)

Charles Leclerc - 3 penalty points

Styria - 1 (Obstruction)
Sakhir - 2 (Causing collision)

Sergio Pérez - 2 penalty points

Spain - 1 (Blue flags ignored)
Tuscany - 1 (Causing collision)

Daniel Ricciardo - 1 penalty point

Russia - 1 (Ignoring instructions from race direction)

Esteban Ocon - 1 penalty point

Silverstone 70 - 1 (Obstruction)

Carlos Sainz - 1 penalty point

Turkey - 1 (Obstruction)

Vettel, Verstappen and more are 'clean'

As you can see, not every driver is mentioned in the overview, this is because there are also drivers who can start 2021 with a clean slate. These are Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly and Nicholas Latifi. Fernando Alonso, Mick Schumacher, Nikita Mazepin and Yuki Tsunoda are also free from penalty points as 'newcomers'.