F2 driver banned after collecting nine penalty points in one race

Formula 2

Posted on

| Written by

Formula 2 driver Mahaveer Raghunathan has been banned from the next round of the championship in Austria after collecting a total of 12 penalty points on his licence, which results in an automatic ban.

The MP Motorsport driver collected nine of his penalty points in today’s feature race at Paul Ricard. The stewards found he failed to observe the Virtual Safety Car procedure on three separate occasions, and handed him three penalty points for each infringement. He was also given a 15-second time penalty.

Raghunathan’s ban follows a series of other infractions over the course of his nine F2 starts to date this year. At the first round of the championship in Bahrain he was found to have passed the chequered flag twice and was penalised for the following race.

In Baku he failed to stop at the weigh bridge when signalled to during practice, then overtook a rival before the Safety Car line during a restart in the sprint race.

In Monaco he was penalised twice in the feature race, for leaving the track and gaining and advantage and for colliding with rival Jack Aitken. In the sprint race he collected another penalty driving through the pit lane exit at the start to cut the first corner.

Two other drivers were penalised following today’s F2 feature race. Sean Gelael will start tomorrow’s sprint race from the pits for causing a collision with Prema team mate Mick Schumacher on lap one, and Tatiana Calderon was given a 10-second time penalty for two Virtual Safety Car infringements.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Formula 2

Browse all Formula 2 articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

23 comments on “F2 driver banned after collecting nine penalty points in one race”

  1. He should have been banned long before now

    1. He should have never been allowed in F2, only the top 5 or so of F3 should be given that opportunity. Calderon should be benched too.

      1. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
        23rd June 2019, 11:30

        Geleal too. He’s been keeping a seat occupied for years now and shown next to nothing for it.
        He barely even scored points in European F3.

  2. How is this guy still racing? Seriously..

  3. Neil (@neilosjames)
    23rd June 2019, 2:01

    He should be banned from the series as he quite clearly isn’t capable of driving at that level.

    Young drivers whose careers depend on F2, which is meant to be the final proving ground, shouldn’t have to share a race track with someone who’s only there because he wants to hang around the F1 paddock.

  4. roberto giacometti
    23rd June 2019, 2:32

    Must have big $$$ behind him to even still be able to get INTO the car , let alone be allowed to race !!!
    As usual – money talks ……..

  5. If this guy got 9 points in a single race what the hell is he doing in a race car.

  6. Racist, sexist stewards are destroying F2, let them race.



    :-)

    1. Too many rules:)

      1. Not really…there is still a couple he didn’t break. :0
        I like the one about passing the chequered flag twice,
        That would have to be the highlight of his day.

    2. at least these penalties are real.

  7. Wierd day for Indian, F3 winner, F2 driver banned, Chandok’s “analysis” used for evidence, and in F-E driver of Indian team caused a bizzare crash.

    1. Interesting times indeed! In a way, good to see more Indians get to the international motorsports stage, but some of it probably doesn’t help inspire people!

      1. In better news for Indian racing drivers, Jehan Daruvala won the F3 race at Paul Ricard yesterday.

    2. Dutch license.

  8. Masego Matabane
    23rd June 2019, 8:21

    How do you even cross the chequered flag twice? At full racing speed… Especially in the world of team radio? Ridiculous and dangerous… Not only does someone else deserve that race seat, just replace the incompetent team as well.

    1. I don’t know what actually happened, but I can easily imagine a perfectly safe, logical scenario in which this happens and isn’t his fault because he thought he finished 2 feet ahead of the winner lapping him, and then no one told him otherwise.

    2. It’s not that uncommon. It can happen intentionally if the driver or team think that there’s a discrepancy in the the number of laps scored, either manually or electronically. The driver will take an “extra lap” just to be absolutely sure they ran the full race. I’ve seen it done a few times, and I’ve done it myself. But this was back in the Stone Age, when there were no penalties for it.

      Aside from that, the driver in question here is super flaky. Are they waiting until he hurts someone before they really nail him?

  9. It’s frankly unbelievable that he has a ban but is still racing today. Why isn’t he banned from today’s race :/ rules need a rethink

  10. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
    23rd June 2019, 11:25

    Seriously wondering what the hell this guy is doing in F2…

  11. ForzaAlonsoF1
    23rd June 2019, 13:08

    Deliberately flippant comment, but PLEASE bring him into F1, need a driver like this for the entertainment, $troll doesn’t quite cut the mustard for me any more.

  12. and Tatiana Calderon was given a 10-second time penalty for two Virtual Safety Car infringements

    Did Calderon also get the three penalty points on her licence that Raghunathan received for each of his similar infringements? Consistency and all that…

Comments are closed.