Sebastian Vettel has overtaken Max Verstappen and Romain Grosjean to become the Formula 1 driver who has scored the most penalty points since the system was introduced.
The Ferrari driver was given three penalty points on his licence for causing a collision with Lance Stroll when he pulled onto the track in the middle of Monza’s Ascari chicane last weekend.Vettel has now amassed a total of 24 penalty points for 10 separate offences. Verstappen and Grosjean have scored 21 each.
Like Vettel, Grosjean has contested every season under the penalty points system. The others are Lewis Hamilton (six points), Daniel Ricciardo (seven), Kimi Raikkonen (10), Valtteri Bottas (12), Nico Hulkenberg (14) and Sergio Perez (16).
No Formula 1 driver has ever reached 12 penalty points within a 12-month period, which would result in an automatic one-race ban. Vettel is on nine points for the current period.
He is not due to have any penalty points deducted until October 20th. Therefore if Vettel earns three penalty points over the next three races in Singapore, Russia and Japan, he will incur a one-race ban.
Earlier this year Formula 2 driver Mahaveer Raghunathan was banned for one event after exceeding 12 penalty points in nine races. He has since returned to racing and is now four penalty points away from a second ban.
Sebastian Vettel’s penalty points to date
Event | Session | Misdemeanour | Penalty | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 Canadian Grand Prix | Third practice | Overtook Roberto Merhi under red flags | Five-place grid drop | 3 |
2016 British Grand Prix | Race | Forced Felipe Massa off the track | Five-second time penalty | 2 |
2016 Malaysian Grand Prix | Race | Caused a collision with Nico Rosberg | Three-place grid drop | 2 |
2016 Mexican Grand Prix | Race | Abnormal change of position while defending | Ten-second time penalty | 2 |
2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix | Race | Caused a collision with Lewis Hamilton | Ten-second stop-go penalty | 3 |
2018 French Grand Prix | Race | Involved in an incident with Valtteri Bottas | Five-second time penalty | 2 |
2018 Austrian Grand Prix | Qualifying | Impeded Carlos Sainz Jnr | Three-place grid drop | 1 |
2018 United States Grand Prix | First practice | Failed to reduce speed significantly under red flag | Three-place grid drop | 2 |
2019 Canadian Grand Prix | Race | Rejoined the track when it was not safe to do so | Five-second time penalty | 2 |
2019 British Grand Prix | Race | Caused a collision with Max Verstappen | 10-second time penalty | 2 |
2019 Italian Grand Prix | Race | Rejoined the track when it was not safe to do so | Ten-second stop-go penalty | 3 |
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Drivers’ penalty points totals since 2014
*Season to date
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Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
13th September 2019, 11:27
well if you add all of them on it would vault him up to third in the championship (but not if you let Verstappen have his too). On the other hand it’s only 7 this season so he’d still be 6 behind Leclerc.
Chaitanya
13th September 2019, 11:30
Another record he wont be proud off. He also has record for fastest penalty on debut in F1.
Serg (@)
13th September 2019, 12:28
Speeding in the pit lane, right?
Chaitanya
13th September 2019, 12:40
Yes.
Mayrton
13th September 2019, 11:42
Well that makes sense given his driver profile. Fast on an empty track, bad in traffic.
L (@lebz)
13th September 2019, 11:52
He’s not that bad in traffic…. he’s quite good in following others but sucks when he’s challenged by others….
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
14th September 2019, 2:19
Nonsense, he’s horrible in traffic or any type of racecraft
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
14th September 2019, 23:13
Errrr. Not sure what horrible is?
eljueta (@eljueta)
13th September 2019, 11:46
Vettel hasn’t been able to focus on his last couple of years, the penalties reflect that. It’s very weird.
Nunof
13th September 2019, 23:15
It seems the data shows Grosjean has been unfairly treated
F1oSaurus (@)
14th September 2019, 17:37
@eljueta He drove just as poorly before, but then there were no penalty points.
Feels like the actual penalties were a lot harsher back then though. For instance for slamming into Kubica in the opening race of 2009 he received a 10 place grid drop. Nowadays he barely gets a penalty for stuff like that.
Although those two zero point finishes at the start of the 2009 season cost him the championship in the end. So it did cost him back then just like 2017 and 2018. Just not directly from the stewards.
Louis Lau
13th September 2019, 11:47
who is Ferrari’s back-up driver if Sebastian is banned for a race? Kimi???
Animesh Kishore
14th September 2019, 9:12
There’s an outside chance for Alonso to step in. He clearly wants it and is available.
Would be something, isn’t it.
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
14th September 2019, 10:34
Wehrlein or Hartley I think
Oni (@oni)
14th September 2019, 10:34
Good question, in the Ferrari website, other drivers are listed as: Antonio Fuoco, Giovinazzi, Hartley, Davide Rigon, and Pascal Wehrlein. Out of these, I’d like to see Wehrlein make a comeback to F1 the most.
Initially
13th September 2019, 11:52
Those 2 points in the 2016 mexican gp are just ridiculous. Shouldn’t even have been a penalty. That was some of the best hard racing ever.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
13th September 2019, 15:59
Ironically those came about due to a reinterpretation of the rules following complaints about Max Verstappen’s driving in Belgium from… Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
13th September 2019, 16:49
@keithcollantine and austria came from Canada’s hysteria.
Oconomo
13th September 2019, 18:35
@peartree
Austria should not have been investigated at all, since there was absolutely nothing wrong with that move, according to me and to every proper ex driver.
(Same goes (to a bit lesser entent) for Canada)
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
13th September 2019, 21:25
Just to be clear we’re talking max on lec, not getting a penalty because of ham vet in canada, the irony. @drycrust
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
13th September 2019, 21:00
I have never agreed with the Stewards decision about that incident. How can a guy on the racing line and half a car length ahead be given a penalty for colliding with someone off the racing line and half a car length behind? Riccardo was trying to overtake Vettel, but attempting to overtake doesn’t mean you have an automatic right to be ahead. Nevertheless, the Stewards decided that being half a car length behind and off the racing line gave Riccardo the right to be ahead of Vettel. Riccardo wasn’t even completely alongside Vettel, Vettel was half a car length ahead and on the racing line. Riccardo should have backed off because the onus is on him to overtake safely, but he didn’t and there was a collision.
As for Verstappen driving across the grass, what a joke!
Here’s a link to the video, but it can make your blood boil.
F1oSaurus (@)
14th September 2019, 17:45
@drycrust Like Keith said, the rules (or interpretation thereof) was changed specifically to disallow a dirty defense like that. This change came about because Vettel and Raikkonen kept calling for it (in cases when Verstappen did the same).
It’s just pure karma that Vettel is the only one ever getting a penalty for it
They scrapped this interpretation again after this incident. So yes before that race and since that race this penalty would not be given.
Niefer (@niefer)
14th September 2019, 2:07
@Initially & @drycrust — Totally agree. Actually, it’s a great showcase for the pundits of how precise and safe he can be under pressure when he feels the car is at his hands.
Also, after the post-race interviews, I lost great respect for Danny Ric that day. His moaning was just ridiculous. Could’ve been gracious of the brilliant battle they had and yet even being compliant of the rules, but chose the safe way.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
13th September 2019, 11:55
He won’t get a ban unless he does something really, really dangerous though. The stewards had the opportunity to ban Grosjean when he committed an offence which would usually earn penalty points, but chose not to give him points on that occasion, so I think the stewards will err on the side of not banning a driver if they have the option.
I don’t think Vettel is inherently a dangerous driver, he has just accumulated a lot of penalty points for mostly small, silly mistakes (Baku road rage incident notwithstanding).
Esploratore (@esploratore)
14th September 2019, 1:22
Yes, tbh penalty points are absolutely worthless, there’s never been a race ban so far, say there was one coming soon, what would it change? After that points are reset, it will take years to get another ban and with how “close” titles have been lately it’s not gonna be title deciding ever!
Niefer (@niefer)
14th September 2019, 1:50
@keithedin well remembered!
I hope VET gets the ban, though. I believe he really needs a forced break to reset.
F1oSaurus (@)
14th September 2019, 19:00
@keithedin Vettel was in the same situation before:
https://www.racefans.net/2017/07/02/how-vettel-could-incur-a-race-ban-in-austria/
Wasn’t there an other one too?
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
13th September 2019, 12:09
@keithcollantine For sure Vettel has accumulated lots of penalty points, but I think this chart is a bit misleading and people are of course drawing conclusions from that. A better comparison would have been the average penalty points scored per race started.
Here’s how that stat looks: https://i.imgur.com/relntOj.png
Vettel is still up there, but not first. I made it quickly so sorry if I made mistakes (in that case, I’ll be glad to fix it: numbers used are visible in the screenshot). Source is Wikipedia.
Wes (@flashofsilver)
13th September 2019, 13:44
And that is how you get the name Crashtappen. Thanks for making this.
erikje
13th September 2019, 15:29
You do not receive penalty points for crashing. If so LEC would have passed all others already.
Oconomo
13th September 2019, 18:43
@flashofsilver
And if you take away all the nonsense points, basically most of them bar Hungary 2015, Ricciardo in Hungary, Vettel in China and Kimi in Suzuka, it all looks very different and you can see why the old guard, with a proper sense of F1 history, love him so much and rate him so high.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
13th September 2019, 16:00
@m-bagattini The data in paragraph four gives that context.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
13th September 2019, 16:08
@keithcollantine I’m sorry but I disagree
wayne
13th September 2019, 12:10
i dont get penalty points pretty much like the black and white flag. whats the point if a driver collects soo many points over the years but still breaks the rules but nothing really happens to them. from 2014 till now and nothing… really?! thats all silly. in my opinion penalty points should be for a single championship year. black and white flag should be carried over to every race. once recieved 2nd b& w flag some sort of penalty must be given.
Yaru
13th September 2019, 13:01
Black and white flag reasoning seeme obvious to me. It is similar (though obviously not the same) a yellow card in football, it is a warning that stewards don’t like what your doing and repeating it will earn you punishment.
erikje
13th September 2019, 15:30
So at least a flag should mean one penalty point.
Ram
13th September 2019, 18:05
Hey that’s a great idea!
Joao (@johnmilk)
13th September 2019, 12:22
In your face Madolnado
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
13th September 2019, 13:04
@johnmilk so funny:-) thanks for that!
pluk (@peteleeuk)
13th September 2019, 16:04
hahaha
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
13th September 2019, 13:12
Sergio Perez didn’t drive every season since the points system was established?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
13th September 2019, 16:01
@mxmxd Good point – added him in.
Dane
13th September 2019, 13:30
If Vettel got a race ban, who would Ferrari put in his seat?
Jockey Ewing
13th September 2019, 14:50
Alonso
Kimi, and try some rookie at Alfa
Robert Shwartzman results quite impressive yet, leading F3 this year, and regular podiums at development seriers seasons. Looks like he knows how to win. But of course from F3 hes maybe risky to throw in. And then what do you do with Mick Schumacher, the other Ferrari Academist, with obviously good chances. Marcus Armstrong is quite good either. But they are not experineced enough yet imo for a jump-in debut.
If i were them i’d try Nyck de Vries. He developed a bit slowly, but who knows. It would be better for F2 and for him to stay there than going to Formula-E as an only oportunity. Formula-E has a strong competition, and we seen many good drivers burnt there.
Jockey Ewing
13th September 2019, 15:14
or some Indy star if that happens for the USA Gp
James (@knewman)
13th September 2019, 19:57
I’d guess Raikonnen, and Marucs Ericson would get the call up once again from Indy to cover his seat at Alfa.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
13th September 2019, 14:19
Good case study for bias, there’s maybe 7 points in there that are hard to explain. Good riddance, win less 4 titles in a row.
JC
13th September 2019, 14:27
10 second stop go penalty for spinning by himself and rejoining the track in front of another car and causing a mild collision.
10 second stop go penalty for driving alongside another car, under safety car conditions, and deliberately making his car contact that car.
I still get frustrated how relatively lax that second penalty was. If there was ever a time to use a black flag, that was it. However, assuming that was the correct punishment for that behaviour, it makes the first penalty seem overly harsh.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
14th September 2019, 1:26
I don’t think so, it was much more dangerous what he did with stroll.
F1oSaurus (@)
14th September 2019, 19:02
@esploratore Yes and probably both are considered to have been deliberate
Jockey Ewing
13th September 2019, 15:04
Honestly, there are a lot of memorable football players who collected a lot of yellow cards, and barely a red one.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
13th September 2019, 15:46
Champ!
MG1982 (@mg1982)
13th September 2019, 15:46
5th!
Islander
13th September 2019, 16:20
No mention of Maldonado’s 2000 points…..
Islander
13th September 2019, 16:26
Ten points for Kimi? The guy’s the epitome of ‘fair’ and ‘law abiding’.
System must be faulty.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
13th September 2019, 19:08
Kimi’s done all five-and-a-bit seasons since this system was implemented. That’s two points (one standard-grade offence) per completed season even if we don’t give him any leeway for this partially-completed season. He’s occasionally had three points for a completely out-of-character collision (I think he got 3 points for hitting Max Chilton once) which also skews his penalties – in fact, I think he’s only had 4 incidents which attracted any penalty points at all. Not many drivers have a better batting average and Kimi could be proud of it if he was the sort of man to be proud of something he probably sees as simply part of his job.
anon
13th September 2019, 19:32
Islander, the list of races where Kimi has been given a penalty are as follows:
2018 British GP – 2 points (collision with Hamilton)
2017 Belgian GP – 3 points (speeding in yellow flag zone)
2016 European GP – 2 points (cutting across the pit entry line to rejoin the track)
2015 Russian GP – 3 points (colliding with Bottas)
Islander
13th September 2019, 19:46
Thanks Anon
yeah that crash in Sochi when Bottas said he didn’t see Kimi coming [he was only close chasing him for a dozen laps] he could have avoided contact by turning in and leaving room, then get Kimi on the straight with the much faster car he had. But no. And Kimi should not have got any penalty for a racing incident. IIRC Derek Warwick was involved …
anon
15th September 2019, 21:27
Islander, when you look at the footage from both the aerial shots and the onboard shots, Kimi was trying to make that move work from several car lengths behind Bottas and on a quite tight line on the entry of that corner.
From the distance and the angle that Kimi was trying to make that move from, he’s in a quite difficult spot for another driver to try and see him coming and his move felt more like an attempt at a block pass. You might say that “The guy’s the epitome of ‘fair’ and ‘law abiding’.”, but that does not make him infallible and in that situation I feel that it was Kimi who was ultimately in a better position to avoid causing the collision, given Bottas did not alter his line or otherwise act in an erratic manner.
Niefer (@niefer)
14th September 2019, 1:42
And if we look closely, half of those penalties were rubbish: pure technicality, nitpicking at its pure state. And at Russia he got 30 secs penalty, which was harsh. The only one fit was at the British GP, which makes me consider how the Ferrari drivers must be at the edge with their cars to challenge the Mercedes since then, because RAI is a really safe driver to be around.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th September 2019, 16:45
A bit funny that he got the same penalty for his incident with Stroll in the last race as he received for the infamous clash with LH in the 2017 Azerbaijan GP. The more recent case out of the two was definitely quite a lot worse, and yet both were treated as severely.
BTW, October 19th actually since that was the practice day for the US GP last season, and it was FP1 in which he committed the red flag-stoppage offense.
Sham (@sham)
13th September 2019, 17:44
You think the most recent clash is worse than deliberately driving into another car, under safety car conditions?
Oooookaaaaaaayyy.
Bleu (@bleu)
13th September 2019, 19:05
Maximum of three points for one incident makes it. If maximum was something like six, then it would be more logical. Baku incident could be worth of maximum and Monza incident slightly more serious than normal crash – three points would be good. Then something like Spa start crash caused by Hülkenberg last season would be somewhere between those two.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
13th September 2019, 19:10
@blue Technically, the maximum is 8.
If Vettel crashes again and the maximum penalty is awarded, he gets 3 points…
…which triggers a ban. Anyone getting a ban also “earns” 5 points towards the next ban.
Sham (@sham)
13th September 2019, 17:45
So Vettel has 400% of the penalty points Hamilton has in the same time period?
That says all that needs saying.
Niefer (@niefer)
14th September 2019, 1:23
@sham rolling at the front all this time has its benefits.
F1oSaurus (@)
14th September 2019, 19:03
@nieferNeither Vettel nor Hamilton did that though.
Leroy (@g-funk)
13th September 2019, 18:15
What I find remarkable about the list of most penalized drivers is the notable absence of Daniel Ricciardo. Statistically speaking, given he has been in F1 for the entirety of the point system, been on pole only 3 times in his career, had an average career grid position of 10th, and is widely regarded as one of the best overtakers, the number of opportunities to mess up one of those passes and get a penalty is pretty high. The fact he hasn’t incurred much in the way of penalties mean his passes and driving are remarkably clean. Well done, Danny Ric.
erikje
13th September 2019, 20:27
He received two points for his actions in france..
And he is not clean also. But mostly he is very correct indeed.
https://f1statblog.co.uk/f1-penalty-points/
Leroy (@g-funk)
13th September 2019, 22:59
He has 7 total points since 2014. The only driver who has competed in the same number of races with fewer points is Lewis, who has typically raced from the front of the grid and had to pass fewer cars on track for position than Ricciardo, who typically starts mid pack. I would consider that a pretty remarkable stat and evidence of overall clean driving while overtaking and while being overtaken.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
14th September 2019, 1:29
Yes, also ricciardo had an unusually low crash record, he was being compared to verstappen and people noticed verstappen wasn’t much different to senna and schumacher and that ricciardo was the anomaly, not him.
Martin Elliott
13th September 2019, 18:23
Typical rubbish from reporters who have no idea about data and statistics!
You’ve provided just raw data and failed to normalise it.
Of course if he’s raced longer and in more races than other drivers he’s had more opportunity to gather points whether a bad boy or not.
Its down to you but for real comparison I’d suggest you present it as track km per point, or points per race. That would be a fare stat to compare drivers!
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
13th September 2019, 19:29
The points statuses for all other drivers doing the same number of races was also provided.
Hamilton – 6 (Difference from mean is 6 – 13.75 = -6.75)
Ricciardo – 7 (Difference from mean is 7 – 13.75 = -5.75)
Raikkonen – 10 (Difference from mean is 10 – 13.75 = -3.75)
Bottas – 12 (Difference from mean is 12 – 13.75 = -1.75)
Hulkenberg – 14 (Difference from mean is 14 – 13.75 = 0.25)
Perez – 16 (Difference from mean is 16 – 13.75 = 2.75)
Grosjean – 21 (Difference from mean is 21 – 13.75 = 7.75)
Vettel – 24 (Difference from mean is 24 – 13.75 = 10.75)
The average (mean) point score with Vettel is (110 points / 8 drivers) = 13.75 points.
The average (median) point score with Vettel is (4th + 5th driver / 2) = 13 points.
Standard deviation (population method used) is 6.312 points.
Vettel is (24 – 13.75 / 6.312) = 1.62 standard deviations away from the average for people who have done the same number of races as he has.
The average (mean) point score without Vettel is (86 / 7 drivers) = 12.285 points
The average (median) point score without Vettel is (4th driver) = 12 points.
So Vettel is significantly outside what would be expected of a driver in this experienced group, and is in fact making the typical driving standard within it look 1.5 points (three-quarters of a standard offence across the five-and-a-bit year period) worse than it otherwise would.
The strange thing about all this is that Vettel is usually a trustworthy, clean driver. It’s just that when he gets it wrong, he tends to get it very wrong, and thus obtain the maximum three points for his offences.
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
14th September 2019, 3:06
Great analysis except for the last paragraph. Vettel has always been accident and crash prone. He threw away any chance of winning the 2009 championship, and tried to do so with the 2010 and 2012 championships and did a good job in throwing away the 2017 and 18 championships, as well as caused many many collisions. He is, as the numbers clearly reveal, the dirtiest driver on the grid.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
13th September 2019, 19:32
@Martin Elliott I hope this is sufficiently normalised for you.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
13th September 2019, 19:57
I think Mr. Collantine assumes that his public knows that Sebastian Vettel, along with a few other drivers, participated in every race since this system was established.
Besides, I don’t think you’re realizing how patently absurd it would be to manually count the exact number of Track KM driven by each driver since the establishement of the point system.
Urvaksh (@thedoctor03)
13th September 2019, 19:30
Oh yeah! Another anti-Vettel article on this website :) woo! Oh and yes, just facts. Misleading of course!
Sham (@sham)
14th September 2019, 7:28
@thedoctor03 I would just love for you to explain how these statistics are misleading.
alex
13th September 2019, 20:34
Penalty points means nothing if there is no actual penalty in the race. Crash-tappen can laugh about this type of points, since he’s never given real penalties in his day to day “race incidents”.
So he can continue laughing in the face of everybody and touching all the other drivers in the real life videogame.
Carlos Medrano (@carlosmedrano)
14th September 2019, 15:43
bUt BuT hE HaS 4 wOrLd TiTlEs aNd As wE aLl KnOw ChAmPiOnsHips iS AlL aBoUt SkiLl aNd NoThInG tO dO wItH tHe cAr
LB (@burden93)
14th September 2019, 17:37
For me the penalty points are a bit flawed in their implementation.
It seems the stewards will often give 2 points for minor incidents that the drivers shouldn’t be getting them for. However, when it comes to major incidents, say the Vettel road rage incident in Baku, they only get 3? So a 1 point difference… To me, penalty points should only be given for relatively big misdemeanors and in those cases maybe more than 3 should be given.
F1oSaurus (@)
14th September 2019, 19:07
@burden93 Exactly. Causing 2 major incidents over say a 6 month span should be enough for a race ban. That’s how it was for Hakkinen and Grosjean.
Instead drivers (in this case Vettel) can cause 3 major incidents over 12 months and still nothing happens.
Jim Rustle
16th September 2019, 3:35
He was also the first WDC that failed to win a race in a car capable of it.
mzso (@mzso)
18th September 2019, 11:14
The point system is a joke. Grosjean only avoided a race-ban, because they gave him a pass in Abu Dhabi, when he toppled Hülkenberg after coming back from out of bounds in Hülkenberg’s blind spot. That was worthy of both a black flag and 3 points…