The penalty points system of F1 was thrust into the spotlight after Kevin Magnussen received a stunning ban following the 2024 Italian Grand Prix and missed the following round at the Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan, but how exactly do they work?
F1 penalty points are an extension at the disposal of the FIA Formula 1 stewards beyond time penalties to punish drivers deemed to have been acting in an excessively dangerous manner by adding points to their FIA Super License.
The maximum amount of penalty points added to an F1 Super License is fixed at three per incident, it can vary depending on the discretion of the stewards and the particular context of an incident.
For example, adequate communication from the team can influence the impact the amount of F1 penalty points handed out for an incident such as impeding or pitting when the pit lane is closed.
The FIA Super License is required by all 20 members of the F1 grid in order to be allowed to race by the sport’s governing body, and drivers are allowed to collect 12 points on their Super License within a 12-month period.
If they hit or exceed this limit then they will receive a ban for the following race they enter whilst restart again from zero points for the following 12-month period, meaning more points will not result in an immediate ban.
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When did F1 introduce penalty points?
F1 introduced penalty points in 2014 meaning the system had been in place for a decade before Magnussen earned his ban at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza and became the first to miss a race under the system.
Since being introduced, Lewis Hamilton has collected the most F1 penalty points out of any driver by collecting 35 of them, although Max Verstappen trails closely with 32 after collecting two more points at the 2024 Austrian GP for crashing into Lando Norris.
Has anyone else almost been banned?
Whilst Magnussen is the first to actually hit the limit required for a ban, he isn’t the first driver to come close to the limit.
Pierre Gasly was also at risk of a ban following the end of the 2022 F1 season but managed to avoid the 12 penalty points needed to miss a race as he made the switch from AlphaTauri to Alpine.
The Frenchman found himself on 10 points at the end of the 2022 Mexico City GP and needed to produce nine clean races until May 22, 2023 in order to avoid a ban at his new team, but he successfully managed to do so.
