F3 driver goes even further than Verstappen after Spanish GP chaos

In 2022, Nicola Lacorte from Pisa debuted in the Italian F4 Championship with Iron Lynx. In 2023, he joined Prema Racing for a full season, securing his first F4 victory and finishing ninth overall in the championship. Currently, he competes in the 2025 FIA Formula 3 Championship with DAMS Lucas Oil and is a member of the Alpine Academy, he lies 28th in the F3 standings.

The driver's infractions during the Spanish F3 race included multiple driving offences, such as causing collisions and ignoring track limits, leading to the unprecedented accumulation of penalty points in a single weekend.

Tensions first boiled over in qualifying when Lacorte felt that José Garfias had brake-tested him. In a reckless and deliberate act of retaliation, Lacorte intentionally drove into the AIX Racing driver.

The situation worsened during Sunday’s feature race where Lacorte was penalised with 3 points for driving at excessive speed under yellow flag conditions behind the safety car, which he repeated again during the same race.

To make matters worse, Lacorte was also handed an additional penalty point for contact with fellow driver Brando Badoer.

This total significantly exceeds the FIA's threshold of 12 penalty points within a 12-month period, which mandates an automatic race ban for the following event. When he returns, he will still carry 6 penalty points—meaning he will need to drive with extreme caution to avoid a second suspension.

After this weekend where the Dutch driver picked up 3 penalty points due to a collision with George Russell, Verstappen will have to watch out as he only one penalty point away from a suspension in Formula 1. 

Verstappen will have to be careful in the next two Grand Prix, before points on his license are taken off.