Last season saw the first time a Formula 1 driver was banned from a race for reaching the threshold of 12 penalty points.
Kevin Magnussen had the unwelcome distinction of being the first driver to be forced out for a race under the regulations introduced over a decade earlier, in 2014.
As the new season begins, two drivers are in the most obvious danger of suffering Magnussen’s fate. With an influx of inexperienced racers joining the grid, and the 2025 F1 calendar featuring a record-equalling 24 rounds, will everyone keep a clean sheet this year?
Current drivers with penalty points
Max Verstappen: 8
Not only does Max Verstappen have the joint-highest penalty points total of any driver, he incurred most of them at the end of last season. That means none will be removed from his licence over the first 11 races.
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| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30/6/2024 | Austrian Grand Prix | Grand prix | Collided with Norris in turn three. | 2 |
| 27/10/2024 | Mexican Grand Prix | Grand prix | Forced Norris off the track. | 2 |
| 2/11/2024 | Brazilian Grand Prix | Sprint race | The driver was above the minimum time at the end of the Virtual Safety Car period. | 1 |
| 1/12/2024 | Qatar Grand Prix | Qualifying | Car one drove unnecessarily slowly on a cool down lap. | 1 |
| 8/12/2024 | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Grand prix | Caused a collision with Piastri in turn one. | 2 |
Fernando Alonso: 8
Just three incidents last year were enough to move Fernando Alonso two-thirds of the way towards an automatic ban. However he is in a better position than Verstappen, as Alonso will drop the last of his current points on the day Verstappen strikes out the first of his.
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24/3/2024 | Australian Grand Prix | Grand prix | Incident between turns six and seven. | 3 |
| 20/4/2024 | Chinese Grand Prix | Sprint race | Incident with Sainz in turn nine. | 3 |
| 30/6/2024 | Austrian Grand Prix | Grand prix | Collision with Zhou in turn three. | 2 |
Lance Stroll: 4
Aston Martin’s drivers have the highest combined penalty points total.
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21/4/2024 | Chinese Grand Prix | Grand prix | Collided with Ricciardo at turn 14. | 2 |
| 1/12/2024 | Qatar Grand Prix | Grand prix | Caused a collision with Albon in turn four. | 2 |
Oscar Piastri: 4
Oscar Piastri largely stayed out of trouble until the final races of last season.
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| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/11/2024 | Brazilian Grand Prix | Grand prix | Causing a collision with Lawson in turn one. | 2 |
| 8/12/2024 | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Grand prix | Caused a collision with Colapinto before turn six. | 2 |
Nico Hulkenberg: 4
Nico Hulkenberg brings four penalty points with him from Haas to Sauber.
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29/6/2024 | Austrian Grand Prix | Qualifying | Forced Alonso off track at turn three. | 2 |
| 1/9/2024 | Italian Grand Prix | Grand prix | Collided with Tsunoda at the entry to turn one. | 2 |
Lando Norris: 3
The driver who won the final race of last year only incurred penalty points once during the season, though it was for a significant error.
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/12/2024 | Qatar Grand Prix | Grand prix | Failed to slow for double waved yellow flags. | 3 |
Esteban Ocon: 3
Drivers ordinarily do not receive penalty points for ‘unsafe release’ incidents, but Esteban Ocon did in Miami last year after the stewards ruled he was partly responsible for colliding with Charles Leclerc as they left the pits ahead of the sprint race.
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| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/5/2024 | Miami Grand Prix | Sprint race | Unsafe release of car 31 and collision with Leclerc in the pit lane. | 1 |
| 26/5/2024 | Monaco Grand Prix | Grand prix | Collision with Gasly in turn eight. | 2 |
Alexander Albon: 2
Alexander Albon’s pair of penalty points will remain on his licence for most of the year.
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/12/2024 | Qatar Grand Prix | Grand prix | Caused a collision with Magnussen in turn one. | 2 |
Oliver Bearman: 2
Oliver Bearman only started three grands prix last year but managed to pick up a couple of points for tangling with Franco Colapinto.
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/11/2024 | Brazilian Grand Prix | Grand prix | Causing a collision with Colapinto in turn 10. | 2 |
Liam Lawson: 2
Another driver who did not do the full season last year, Liam Lawson at least has far fewer penalty points than his new team mate.
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| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/12/2024 | Qatar Grand Prix | Grand prix | Caused a collision with Bottas in turn one. | 2 |
George Russell: 1
George Russell almost kept a clean sheet last year, but slipped up behind the Safety Car at the penultimate round.
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/12/2024 | Qatar Grand Prix | Grand prix | Failed to maintain a 10-car-length distance behind the Safety Car | 1 |
Carlos Sainz Jnr: 1
New Williams driver Carlos Sainz Jnr should drop to zero penalty points early in May if he avoids any further incidents between now and then.
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/5/2024 | Miami Grand Prix | Grand prix | Collision with Piastri in turn 17. | 1 |
Current drivers with no penalty points
Eight drivers head into the new seasons with clean licences. Of those, three have never started a grand prix before.
Among those with a clean licence is Pierre Gasly, who came close to reaching 12 penalty points in early 2023. Alpine is one of two teams whose drivers have no penalty points: New Ferrari team mates Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are also on zero.
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- Lewis Hamilton
- Charles Leclerc
- Pierre Gasly
- Yuki Tsunoda
- Jack Doohan
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli*
- Gabriel Bortoleto*
- Isack Hadjar*
*No prior grand prix starts
Former drivers with penalty points
These drivers no longer have F1 seats, but should they return this year they already have penalty points on their licences:
Valtteri Bottas: 5
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8/12/2024 | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Grand prix | Caused a collision with Perez in turn six. | 2 |
| 8/12/2024 | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Grand prix | Caused a collision with Magnussen in turn six. | 3 |
Daniel Ricciardo: 3
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21/4/2024 | Chinese Grand Prix | Grand prix | Overtook Hulkenberg under Safety car conditions. | 2 |
| 1/9/2024 | Italian Grand Prix | Grand prix | Forced Hulkenberg off the track at the approach to turn eight. | 1 |
Franco Colapinto: 2
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27/10/2024 | Mexican Grand Prix | Grand prix | Collided with Lawson at the exit of turn 2. | 2 |
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Logan Sargeant: 2
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21/4/2024 | Chinese Grand Prix | Grand prix | Overtook Hulkenberg under Safety car conditions. | 2 |
Sergio Perez: 1
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/3/2024 | Saudi Arabian Grand Prix | Grand prix | Unsafe release. | 1 |
Kevin Magnussen: 0
Kevin Magnussen has no penalty points on his licence. However, he served a one-race ban last season after reaching 12 penalty points, which were cleared from his licence when he returned.
| Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/3/2024 | Saudi Arabian Grand Prix | Grand prix | Collided with Albon at turn four. | 3 |
| 21/4/2024 | Chinese Grand Prix | Grand prix | Collided with Tsunoda at turn six. | 2 |
| 4/5/2024 | Miami Grand Prix | Sprint race | Leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage. | 3 |
| 5/5/2024 | Miami Grand Prix | Grand prix | Collision with Sargeant at turn three. | 2 |
| 1/9/2024 | Italian Grand Prix | Grand prix | Collided with Gasly at the entry to turn four. | 2 |
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Formula 1
- “I can’t turn the car at all”: Full radio from Lawson’s alarming Chinese GP slog to 16th
- Wolff rates Russell’s Chinese Grand Prix performance “10 out of 10”
- Just how poor was Lawson’s pace? Chinese Grand Prix data analysed
- Lawson is relieved the next track is one he knows – but he could be out by then
- Did F1’s radio editing create a false narrative Hamilton was disobeying Ferrari?
El Pollo Loco
12th March 2025, 7:36
Alonso can thank Johnny Herbert and friends for about half his penalty points (Australia). China was also comical. No wonder that, after the PPs racked up from those, he seemed not to even try moving up the order for a few GPs in succession
El Pollo Loco
12th March 2025, 7:42
It’s also crazy that he got 3 points each for those first two while for the only incident he deserved penalty points for, the one w/Zhou), he got 2 points.
Craig
12th March 2025, 8:13
I still think there won’t be any race bans given out unless a driver with sufficient points does something reasonably significant. It’d be a weird look to give a driver a ban for “driving unnecessarily slowly on a cool down lap” or similar.
El Pollo Loco
12th March 2025, 8:19
They’ll need to and have found excuses as to why they’re suddenly not issuing points for an incident they did earlier. It’s easy though. It’s always at the stewards’ direction. IMO, the points are to deter bad behavior. Not innocent mistakes like accidentally being ahead of a driver who had exited the pit lane a millisecond before you or going or being over your delta under a VSC (unless it was done to advantage the team somehow).
El Pollo Loco
12th March 2025, 8:20
stewards’ discretion*
NM
12th March 2025, 10:44
running 0.2 out of delta during safetycar: So dangerous, penalty points!
Starting during a red light situation with marshalls on track: All fine, nothing to see here.
stefano (@alfa145)
12th March 2025, 10:57
my ocd is still triggered by the inconsistency of writing the same thing, for example the turn number on the track where something happened, sometimes in letters, sometimes in numbers.
gDog (@gdog)
12th March 2025, 11:14
Don’t know if this will help your OCD or not… but there is a general rule that when written in a sentence numbers smaller than 10 should be spelled out, whereas 10 and above should be written as digits. Maybe more of a guideline than a rule. Writing six is fine when it’s part of a sentence, but two thousand and twenty five not so much.
However, I can see one deviation from the rule above, “Collided with Lawson at the exit of turn 2.”
Maybe not going to help you OCD after all. It’s bugging me now too.
Mike Davies (@nanotech)
12th March 2025, 14:11
In case this helps with the OCD, there’s some consistency – turns <10 are alpha, 10+ are numeric :)
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
12th March 2025, 14:31
Come on Verstappen. Let’s get the ban.
tielemst
12th March 2025, 15:46
First time I see you actually rooting for the guy :)
Robert (@lekkerbek)
12th March 2025, 23:05
Hamilton takes out 3 drivers at the Miami sprint race. No penalty.
El Pollo Loco
12th March 2025, 23:26
It would have been age’ist to give him a penalty. Nothing something you want to try in Florida. Let’s try to blame Stroll instead. He’s always a good scapegoat.
SteveP
13th March 2025, 8:35
I blame it on the British bias, maybe they should have fired the Brit(s) on the stewards for that race.
El Pollo Loco
14th March 2025, 1:44
Looks like you finally went back to sarcasm school. So proud of you. I didn’t know sarcasm was allowed now?
Only one Brit. So, no British bias to blame. Just a great example of the inconsistency of FIA decisions.
Ferdi
13th March 2025, 7:12
This is a very insightful overview. If you glance at the data throughout all events & drivers it is a statistical analysis of Race Control. It brings to light their improvement areas: consistency, which is lacking but that is hardly any news to the fans. Worse, it shows elements of scripting of the championship outcome. For years now Race Control is meddling with the front of the field, not just with penalty points but also with grid penalties, timed red flags and the like.
I would advocate for a more impartial referee function, but the political landscape at this point in time is not favourable for this for an array of reasons. Mostly because Liberty needs tension in the championship to keep revenue streams coming in, FIA wants to show its teeth vs FOM, but also because it lacks a UK victims/targets which means the majority of press and audience is fine to let it unfold. Let’s see if that all changes this year with McLaren looking particularly strong.