This is the amount of penalty points the drivers start the 2021 season with

A new season means new chances for the drivers. Everyone starts again at zero points in the World Championship, but that isn't the case for penalty points, which can throw a spanner in the works for some drivers.

Penalty points in Formula 1 have little influence, until a driver collects twelve penalty points within twelve months. At that point the driver is given a race ban and must sit out the next Grand Prix. After twelve months the penalty points will be absolved.

Since the introduction of the system, we have not seen anyone receive a race ban in Formula 1 for collecting twelve points. Only Romain Grosjean managed to get a race ban with one action. The accumulated penalty points could however affect the upcoming season, which starts next week.

From the first race George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will have six penalty points, Motorsport-Total.com report. The driver of Williams got three at Silverstone for not reducing speed enough and three in Istanbul for ignoring yellow flags. The seven-time world champion managed to collect four in Austria for not reducing his speed enough and causing a collision. He got the other two in Monza for entering the pit lane which was closed at the time.

More drivers with penalty points

Another Brit has plenty of points to his name. Lando Norris has been given five penalty points for overtaking under a yellow flag in Austria and three for ignoring yellow flags in Turkey. The other drivers starting the season with penalty points are Kimi Raikkonen (4 points), Antonio Giovinazzi (3 points), Lance Stroll (3 points), Charles Leclerc (3 points), Sergio Perez (2 points), Esteban Ocon (1 point), Carlos Sainz (1 point) and Daniel Ricciardo (1 point).

F1 rookie Nikita Mazepin collected no less than 11 penalty points during the last Formula 2 season, but the Russian will start Formula 1 with zero points. That is because the penalty points in other racing series expire at the end of the season instead of after twelve months.