Formula 2 driver Mahaveer Raghunathan has collected enough penalty points to earn his second ban of the 2019 season following an incident the stewards called “extremely dangerous”.
The MP Motorsport driver was given three penalty points on his licence for failing to correctly following the practice start procedure during today’s practice session at Yas Marina.The stewards issued a stinging criticism of the driver and cast doubt on the evidence he gave at the hearing.
“The driver carried out his practice start with two cars ahead of him on the grid. The driver was advised that this is extremely dangerous behaviour and will not be tolerated by the stewards. The standard of driving should be higher as this is the last event of the season.
“The driver stated that the car in front of his started rolling – this was not the case. After the driver of car 17 passed the first car ahead of him, which was the latest he could have recognised his mistake, he didn’t slow down.”
In addition to his penalty points, Raghunathan has been ordered to start Saturday’s feature race from the pit lane.
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Raghunathan has now amassed a total of 24 penalty points on his licence this year. Drivers are given automatic race bans if they reach 12, and Raghunathan has already served one ban this year, in Austria.
Raghunathan could therefore carry his ban into the first event of the next season he competes in. However the article also states: “Penalty points will remain on a driver’s record until the end of the season after which they will be removed.”
Mahaveer Raghunathan’s F2 penalties
- Bahrain race two: Passed the chequered flag twice
- Baku practice: Failed to stop at the weigh bridge when signalled to during practice
- Baku race two: Overtook another car before the Safety Car line during a restart
- Monaco race one: Left the track and gained an advantage
- Monaco race one: Collided with Jack Aitken
- Monaco race two: Left the track and gained an advantage
- France race one: Three VSC infringements
- Belgium qualifying: Yellow flag speeding
- Russia race two: Left the track and did not follow the instructions about rejoining
- Abu Dhabi practice: Did not follow practice start procedure
Update: Rules loophole means no ban for Raghunathan despite reaching 12 penalty points again
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DAllein (@)
29th November 2019, 23:16
Permanent ban will probably teach him.
And definitely will make racing safer.
And he is better be doing something else… grow birds for example.
Chaitanya
30th November 2019, 1:49
Couldnt agree more.
Kiran Nesarajah (@nesarajah)
30th November 2019, 3:22
Agree !
mfreire
29th November 2019, 23:30
This guy is a complete disaster… why can’t he learn from his mistakes? Does he even care about his behavior? Maybe he should get an indefinite ban until he is medically examined by a psychologist.
Pedro Andrade
29th November 2019, 23:42
At this point a permanent ban would be more appropriate.
2Fast4U
30th November 2019, 0:50
F2’s Moldonado.
Sham (@sham)
30th November 2019, 7:23
That’s very unfair on Pastor.
This guy simply has no idea, not a clue about racing etiquette or the rules.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
30th November 2019, 7:28
Extremely unfair. Maldonado’s at least quite fast. This guy’s slow as hell and even worse offender than Maldonado.
mfreire
30th November 2019, 19:24
This guy makes Maldonado look like Senna…
Nimba (@nimba)
10th August 2021, 22:30
Enough of that already. Pastor Maldonado is a Formula One race winner. one out of only 111 in the history of the sport.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
30th November 2019, 1:17
I dont follow lower formulae or know anything about this guy and his past behaviour. But shouldnt there be something written in the regulations for what happens when you accumulate a further 12 points after your first race ban? Obviously he isnt learning from mistakes and if the first 12 points is a race ban, the second 12 should have a more severe penalty. At some stage they need to consider a permanent ban otherwise drivers like this will continue to drive dangerously for as long as they are allowed – which could eventually lead to serious injury, or worse.
Dane
30th November 2019, 1:46
2019 penalty points champion!
DonSmee (@david-beau)
30th November 2019, 2:46
He clearly has poor situational awareness!
Kiran Nesarajah (@nesarajah)
30th November 2019, 3:23
How does one get 2 bans in a year but still have their racing licence???
Shimks (@shimks)
30th November 2019, 23:09
That’s what I was thinking!
Jockey Ewing
30th November 2019, 3:37
He has enough points to qualify for a hyperlicense.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
30th November 2019, 5:05
I’m pretty sure most team debriefs don’t involve the driver being told “you’ve got to turn the wheel”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0-N777JFfc
Sham (@sham)
30th November 2019, 7:26
I still laugh about this incident.
Broke84 (@broke84)
30th November 2019, 7:32
Thanks for getting my Saturday off to a laughy start. I’d never seen this before now.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
30th November 2019, 8:18
I’m guessing he was late for a race somewhere else
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNUFkHWSmKc
PaulK (@paulk)
30th November 2019, 8:42
@bernasaurus, that is hilarious. Now I know who was the driver in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4du48mqOQw
bigwilk (@bigwilk)
30th November 2019, 5:29
24 penalty point and 1 championship point. Who is paying for this dangerous waste of a seat!?
Unless we’re talking family money I can’t imagine why anyone would sponsor him.
Chaitanya
30th November 2019, 6:07
Apparently he has been signed by Haas in 2017 and his lower class career was sponsored by Coloni. His graph in F2 2019 seems to have taken downward turn for worse with no signs of recovery.
Mike Williams (@mikejtw)
30th November 2019, 6:15
We used to have a saying ‘keep death of the roads, drive on the pavement’ but now it seems second part should be drive in F2. Permanent ban from all forms of motor sport in my opinion.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
30th November 2019, 7:11
Sounds like the perfect guy for a race seat at Williams.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th November 2019, 7:33
How is this guy still even competing in F2, to begin with, after everything that’s happened so far?