Data: Verstappen and Bearman most at risk of triggering a ban in second half of 2025

It’s now over a decade since the FIA introduced its penalty points system designed to punish consistently poor driving standards from drivers racing in the Formula 1 world championship.

By giving drivers points on their superlicences for being judged as responsible for committing rules infractions, the system was brought in to act as a deterrent for careless and dangerous driving with the ultimate threat of any driver receiving 12 points over a 12 month span receiving a ban from the next grand prix.

In over ten seasons since its introduction, only one driver has suffered the indignity of being forced to miss a round due to accruing 12 points over a calendar year: Kevin Magnussen after last year’s Italian Grand Prix.

As drivers enjoy their summer break before the final ten rounds of the championship, here is how the state of the current grid looks in terms of who is most at risk of being hit with a race ban over the final phase of the season.

Verstappen: Still too close for comfort

The reigning world champion is already having to face up to the reality that he is almost certain to see his crown claimed by one of the McLaren drivers this season, but there’s another potential source of frustration for Max Verstappen.

The Red Bull driver currently has the most active penalty points of any driver in the 2025 field with nine. Six of those are from four separate incidents in the later races of 2024 and three from his controversial late-race clash with George Russell in this year’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Although Verstappen was previously just a single point away from a ban with 11 points immediately following that ugly incident, he has lost two of his penalty points which elapsed following the Austrian Grand Prix. Two more points will be deducted from his licence on October 27th.

But Verstappen is going to have to remain on his best behaviour going into the final run of races as he remains just three points away from a one-race suspension. All it takes is for one collision or serious infraction and the stewards could easily hand him the three points that would force him out of a race weekend.

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Bearman: Two-thirds of the way to a ban

Although Oliver Bearman had the benefit of three grand prix weekends of experience before his first full season, he is easily the most penalised rookie so far in 2025.

The Haas driver is currently sitting on eight points, two of which he collected last year. The other six came from just two incidents – both for red flag related infractions. In Monaco, Bearman received two points for overtaking Carlos Sainz Jnr’s Williams under a red flag in practice, before a far more serious incident at Silverstone where he crashed while pushing into the pit lane under red flag conditions once more earned him a major telling-off from the stewards and four penalty points on his superlicence.

Bearman still has some breathing room, but he will have to be careful over the coming year. His four-point penalty at Silverstone was a first in F1 – no penalty had previously received more than three – and a repeat between now and early November would trigger an immediate ban.

Repeat offenders

Although these drivers are still far from being at risk of a race ban, they are united in having accrued penalty points through multiple incidents in the last 12 months.

Liam Lawson, Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda each have five points on their superlicenses. Lawson and Stroll both carried two points each into the season and have received three more for two further incidents over the first 14 rounds of the current season. Tsunoda gained his five points as a result of three separate infractions, all in 2025. He will not lose any of his current points until the weekend of next year’s round in Catalunya.

Oscar Piastri may be leading the championship, but he also has four points on his superlicence at the summer break – two for contact with Franco Colapinto in last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and two for his Safety Car infraction at Silverstone. Although Jack Doohan no longer has his race seat on the grid, the Alpine reserve driver has four penalty points for two infractions over the Chinese Grand Prix weekend. His replacement, Franco Colapinto, also has two incidents on his record, but sits on three points.

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Low-risk

The largest group of drivers consists of those who have points for just a single incident over the last year. Four of these – Lando Norris, Alexander Albon, Nico Hulkenberg and George Russell – all committed their offences over the second half of last season. Norris has the most points of these with three, after he was found guilty of failing to slow under yellow flags in last year’s Qatar Grand Prix.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz Jnr each have two points for one incident each this season, while Charles Leclerc gained a single point at the last round before the summer break in Hungary for moving under braking while defending from Russell.

On the sidelines

Three drivers who still have active penalty points on their superlicences despite neither having competed in any of this year’s races. They include Valtteri Bottas, who will return to F1 with Cadillac next year, and amassed five in his final appearance at Yas Marina last year. F1’s newest team will be pleased to know all of his penalty points will expire long before their debut on the grid at Melbourne next year.

Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo each have points yet to expire off their superlicences for incidents in the latter part of last season.

• Bottas has five-place penalty for first race back in F1 with Cadillac next year

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Clean records

That leaves five drivers who can boast of having spotless superlicenses with not a single penalty point to their names. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this includes the two most experienced drivers on the grid, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. Alonso last received penalty points in last year’s Austrian Grand Prix for colliding with Zhou Guanyu’s Sauber, at which point he had eight on his licence.

You have to go back to the 2023 Italian Grand Prix to find the last time Hamilton received any points on his superlicence, when he squeezed Piastri’s McLaren into the Della Roggia chicane. Hamilton’s streak of 51 race weekends without collecting any penalty points is the longest such run of any driver.

Esteban Ocon is the only other veteran driver with no penalty points to his name currently. His last infraction came in last year’s Monaco Grand Prix, when he infamously clashed with then-team mate Gasly on the opening lap and put himself out of the race and damaged the sister Alpine in the process.

That leaves two of this year’s rookies with a clean sheet through their first 14 rounds in the world championship: Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar. Perhaps fittingly, they were the two drivers who topped the championship in last year’s Formula 2 season before they both earned promotion onto the F1 grid for 2025.

Current penalty points

*Only including incidents that took place within the last 12 months that still count towards a driver’s current tally

More penalty data

• Formula 1 drivers’ penalty points: Current totals
• Formula 1 drivers investigations and penalties 2025

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