JANUARY 8, 2024

No driver at risk of immediate race ban

One year after Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll started the 2023 season under the threat of immediate race bans, as they were close to reaching the dreaded 12 penalty points that come with a one race ban, only Sérgio Pérez and Logan Sargeant will have to be a little bit carefull with their track manners in the first two thirds of the season, as they’re the two drivers who have accumulated the most penalty points during the last championship.

But let’s start with the good news that no less than nine drivers – nearly half the field – earned no penalty points during their last campaign and, therefore, head into the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship with a clean sheet. That reflects well on their track manners but it’s also a consequence of minor offences – like speeding in the pit lane – no longer coming with penalty points attached, reducing the number of infractions that can lead to a one race ban.

The group of well behaved drivers is headed by front runners Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris, but also includes rookie Oscar Piastri and the highly experienced Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen, as they all managed to get through the 2023 season without getting a single penalty point.

As mentioned initially, Sérgio Pérez tops this unflatering classification, the Mexican earning seven penalty points in quick succession after last year’s summer break, at a time he was under tremendous pressure at Red Bull and underperforming massively. This means that Pérez will carry those seven penalty points all the way until the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix – this year held much later than usual, in the middle of September – leaving him with little margin for error in the first 16 (!) Grand Prix of the season.

That’s the same fate Williams’ Logan Sargeant will face, the young American driver carrying six penalty points for the first two thirds of the season as well and having to make sure he doesn’t double out his account until he gets out of the streets of Baku.

Lance Stroll is, again, close to the top of this list, the Aston Martin driver carrying five penalty points all the way to the British Grand Prix, but in a much better position that he was one year ago, where he was just two incidents away from being handed a one-race ban.

The two Mercedes drivers are next on this list, both on four points, with Russell discounting two after the Monaco Grand Prix while Hamilton will carry that amount all the way up to the Hungarian Grand Prix, to be held in the penultimate weekend of July. Yuki Tsunoda is the only driver with three penalty points, but will discount one already in Monaco, while another five drivers start the season with two penalty points and, therefore, quite comfortable with the way they can handle themselves all season.

World Champion Max Verstappen earned two penalty points by pushing Leclerc out of the track immediately after the start in Las Vegas and will carry those points all the way to Brazil, while, on the opposite side of the barricade, Sainz will discount his two penalty points after the Australian Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas (up to Mexico), Zhou Guanyu (up to Hungary) and Nico Hulkenberg (up to Monaco) are the other three drivers starting 2024 with two penalty points.