Recently, there has been discussions online regarding penalty points. During the Spanish Grand Prix, Max Verstappen crashed into George Russell, which ended in a time penalty as well as penalty points on his
Super License.
But what are they? In this blog, we will go over just that and also how many points each driver has.
What Are They?
Every F1 driver needs a Super License to race. Penalty points are essentially a tally of how many times a driver breaks an FIA rule or does something wrong on the track. Point amounts are decided based on the
severity of what happened. For example, if Driver A crashes into Driver B purposely, points would be given. We have seen upwards of 2 points being given (for similar offenses, often with investigation) for this particular infarction.
There is a cap of 12 points in the system. If you exceed this in a 12-month period, then a race ban for the following race (after the offence) will be issued. Some people believe that this results in a permanent ban, however, it is just for one race, and the penalty points expire 12 months after the offence is actually committed, not at the start of any F1 season.
Recent Discussion
After the Spanish Grand Prix, where an incident involving Verstappen and Russell took place, many are talking about penalty points. Verstappen has three more penalty points as a result of a crash. There
was talk of faults and also if the punishment fits.
Many say that the time penalty sufficed as there was no severe damage to Russell’s Mercedes. The fact that he lands 10th on the Spanish GP leader board with one point is enough. However, others stay firm in the fact that what Verstappen did was a display of arrogance and dangerous behaviour. Therefore, he deserves the penalty points also.
Because of the addition of these points, he is only one point away from facing a race ban. He has to be extremely careful not to gain another point. However, two points from last year are going to expire on the 30th of June this year.
Other Driver’s Points
It is not just Max with points on his license. Many of the other drivers this year have recorded points.
11- Max Verstappen
Most of his points are from the 2024 F1 season, with these expiring this month or late 2025. These are from causing collisions, pushing others off the track and breaking general FIA regulations.
6- Liam Lawson
Most of the points are from the 2025 season, yet he has one from previous years. All of his are from causing collisions and crashes.
4- Oscar Piastri, Nico Hulkenburg, Oliver Bearman
The majority of everyone’s points were garnered in the 2024 season, so they will be expiring this year. However, Bearman has one from this year after overtaking Sainz during a FP2 red flag. Overall, they can all afford to make some mistakes as it is unlikely to tip over the 12 maxima.
3- Lando Norris, Lance Stroll
Both drivers manage to avoid issues very well, with only Lance gaining 2 points this year. The rest of the points gained by both will expire this year.
2- Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Franco
Colapinto
All of these drivers have minimal points and avoid infarctions. All of their 2 points expire this year, so a one race ban is highly unlikely for them.
1- George Russell
He has only one point to his name after failing to keep the regulated distance away from the safety car. A race ban is near impossible.
Overall, most drivers don’t have a significant number of points. However, they should all tread lightly with the new FIA guidelines.
What do you think about the Verstappen and Russell collision? Were the penalties justified?
Update 1
After the Canadian Grand Prix ended, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes briefly clashed. Red Bull Racing’s Christian Horner launched a protest against George Russell’s pole win.
Different fans have different opinions on the event that caused RBR to retaliate. Some argue that when the Safety Car came out that Russell attempted to get Verstappen the final penalty point needed for a 1x race ban by slowing down and making it look as if he was overtaken. When the safety car is released, penalties are issued when you overtake anyone. Therefore, Red Bull was justified in their penalty attempt.
However, others are saying that it was an unnecessary attempt by RBR to give Verstappen a pole position. This includes Toto Wolff.
At the F1 movie premier, he said that it was “so petty and so small” and that they had to come up with some “weird clauses” to make their penalty claim work. He says the action was “embarrassing” for Red Bull.
Horner also commented, saying that he does not regret lodging the complaint- “it’s a team’s right to do so”.
What do you think? Was Red Bull justified, or was it an attempt to give their team more points?
Let us know what you think.