When an F1 driver heads to the track, they know they are regulated by a series of penalties that can be thrown away when they break the rules. What penalties are there for hosts to hand over?
If you strap yourself to a 200mph rocket on a closed track with 19 other guys, sometimes you’ll run into or bump into someone.
Although motorsports is an officially unconnected sport, drivers can sometimes forget about it and beat an opponent when they try to make a move that could secure two extra World Championship points or a podium finish.
To make sure drivers are fairly punished for misdemeanour, F1 hosts can impose a variety of penalties – each with varying degrees of severity.
What is the most severe penalty that a Formula One driver can face?
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Most common F1 driver penalties
Most of the offenses over the Grand Prix weekend will happen during the same race on Sunday – the cars will be closest together.
There are four penalties that are most commonly awarded to Formula 1 drivers.
They are:
- Five seconds penalty
- 10 seconds of penalty time
- Penalty
- 10-second pause and penalty kick
A five-second penalty will be issued for minor offenses. At the Canadian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso took home the prize for weaving a lot on the last lap to defend Valtteri Bottas.
The alpine driver skipped five seconds, dropping him from seventh to ninth in the final standings.
The 10-second penalty is a harsher version of the five-second penalty.
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Drivers must immediately dig in to carry out the penalty before the team works on the car, but they can choose to ignore the penalty in the actual race.
If they don’t plan to make another stop – the time is added to the elapsed race time at the end – as happened to Sebastian Vettel at the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix.
The driving penalty is handed over to Formula 1 drivers as a penalty for offenses such as speeding in the pit lane.
It must be submitted within two cycles of its delivery and the vehicle is not allowed to stop in the trunk.
After Michael Schumacher won the 1998 British Grand Prix in the waiting lane, penalties could not be taken for the last three laps – with 20 seconds added to the race time.
The 10-second stop-and-go penalty is the harshest penalty a Formula 1 driver can receive – without disqualification.
No work is permitted in the car where the driver goes down to the trunk and stays there for 10 seconds. Lewis Hamilton (UK 2021) and Vettel (Azerbaijan 2017) are among those drivers who have been sanctioned.
Disqualification and race ban
It is rare for Formula 1 drivers to be disqualified from racing due to driving problems – with Daniel Ricciardo out after the 2014 Australian Grand Prix due to a technical problem. Vettel also got the DSQ for a fuel problem after taking second place at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.
The last driver to be banned in F1 was Romain Grosjean for the 2012 Italian Grand Prix.
The Lotus driver was deemed wrong on the first corner of the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix as he flew through Alonso’s cockpit after putting pressure on Hamilton.
Since 2014, if a driver earns 12 penalty points in a 12-month period, he will be banned from racing, although no one has reached that far as of 2022.
F1 joint grid drop driver penalties
Sometimes F1 drivers will be given grid drop penalties for races.
It could be because the allowed engine allocation was exceeded for the season – or another penalty was turned into a net drop because the driver couldn’t serve it in a previous race.
At the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix, Verstappen earned a drop in the net as he failed to slow the double yellow flags in qualifying – which put him seventh on the grid.
For offenses such as speeding into the lane in practice or qualifying, or for unsafe release in the same sessions, the team or driver will be fined.
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