When Formula 1 drivers transgress the panel of stewards at each Grand Prix have the option to impose a range of sanctions, including reprimands, time demotions and grid drops. Frequently such slap-downs come with penalty points – with drivers’ Super Licences receiving those unwanted points.
Should a driver amass 12 points through a rolling 12-month period then their Super Licence will be suspended for one event, meaning a team would have to nominate a replacement. The points would then be wiped clean. No driver has yet to reach that undesired total though at one stage in 2018 Romain Grosjean danced perilously close to the edge, reaching a high of 10.
Through the course of 2018 a trio of drivers racked up seven penalty points and another quartet hit the six-point mark.
Haas driver Grosjean, Racing Point-bound Williams racer Lance Stroll and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen all amassed seven points.
Grosjean picked up two apiece for causing collisions in Spain and France, another two for ignoring blue flags in Singapore and one for hitting Charles Leclerc in the United States.
Stroll amassed three for ignoring blue flags in Austria, two for forcing Fernando Alonso off in Japan and another two for clashing with the Spaniard at the next race in the United States.
Verstappen, meanwhile, picked up two for spinning Sebastian Vettel in China, two for edging Valtteri Bottas off in Italy, two for his failure to slow for yellow flags in Russia, and one for unsafely re-joining the track on the opening lap in Japan.
Coming close to joining those drivers on seven were Brendon Hartley, Sergey Sirotkin, Esteban Ocon and Alonso.
Hartley picked up four in Bahrain – two for causing a collision, two for overtaking under the Safety Car – and two for causing a collision in Mexico.
Sirotkin was deemed culpable for the first-lap clash in Azerbaijan and copped two points, another two for driving unnecessarily slowly under the Safety Car in France, and another two for forcing a rival wide in Singapore.
Their fellow six-pointers, Ocon and Alonso, had a clean 2018 license until the final handful of Grands Prix of the season.
Ocon received two points in Japan for a red flag transgression, three for his infamous clash with Verstappen in Brazil, and one for leaving the track and gaining an advantage in Abu Dhabi.
Alonso copped his sanctions at the same Grands Prix – one point in Japan for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, two in Brazil for ignoring blue flags, and a trio in Abu Dhabi for his antics.
Alonso cut the Turn 8/9 on successive laps during the closing stages of his swansong and stewards handed him a penalty point on each occasion.
Three drivers – Sebastian Vettel, Marcus Ericsson and Sergio Perez – finished the year on five.
Vettel was slapped with two points for spinning Bottas in France, one for impeding Carlos Sainz Jr. during qualifying in Austria, and two for his red flag transgression in the United States.
Ericsson’s came early in the year. A failure to slow for yellow flags in China left him with three points, and an additional two came in Azerbaijan for causing a collision.
Perez, meanwhile, was hit with two points for overtaking behind the Safety Car in Azerbaijan and three for his swipe at Sirotkin in Singapore.
Pierre Gasly and Bottas each picked up four points for instigating collisions.
Gasly was blamed for clashes in China and Britain while stewards pinned incidents in Hungary and Belgium on Mercedes’ Bottas.
Nico Hulkenberg’s three points were awarded for causing the dramatic pile-up in Belgium, while outgoing team-mate Sainz Jr also finished on three – two for overtaking under the Safety Car in Germany and one for gaining an advantage in the United States.
Formula E-bound Stoffel Vandoorne picked up one for corner cutting and two for ignoring blue flags in Brazil, meaning he joined the Renault duo on three.
Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen and Kevin Magnussen wound up on two, each for just one offence.
Ricciardo’s came through speeding under red flags in Australia, Raikkonen’s were for spinning Hamilton in Britain, while stewards took a dim view on Magnussen’s antics while battling Gasly in Azerbaijan.
Only 18 drivers have so far been listed.
That is because two drivers finished the year with a clean license.
World Champion Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari-bound Sauber rookie Charles Leclerc both finished the year on zero points.
Hamilton, though, picked up two driver reprimands, on both occasions for crossing the white line at the entry to the pit lane, in Germany and Abu Dhabi.
Leclerc did not pick up a reprimand – meaning he statistically finishes 2018 as the cleanest driver.
A brake failure was responsible for Leclerc wiping out Hartley in Monaco – meaning he was not held accountable – while stewards took no further action over his clash with Magnussen in Japan.
2018 Formula 1 Penalty Points
| R. Grosjean | Haas | 7 | Spain 2 (collision), France 2 (collision), Singapore 2 (blue flags), USA 1 (collision) |
| L. Stroll | Williams | 7 | Austria 3 (blue flags), Japan 2 (forcing rival off) USA 2 (collision) |
| M. Verstappen | Red Bull | 7 | China 2, (collision), Monza 2 (collision), Russia 2 (ignoring yellow flags), Japan 1 (unsafe rejoin) |
| B. Hartley | Toro Rosso | 6 | Bahrain 4 (collision, overtaking under SC), Mexico 2 (collision) |
| S. Sirotkin | Williams | 6 | Baku 2 (collision), France 2 (unnecessarily slowly under SC), Singapore 2 (forcing driver wide) |
| E. Ocon | Force India | 6 | Japan 2 (red flags), Brazil 3 (collision), Abu Dhabi 1 (gaining an advantage) |
| F. Alonso | McLaren | 6 | Japan 1 (gaining an advantage), Brazil 2 (blue flags), Abu Dhabi 3 (corner cutting x3) |
| S. Vettel | Ferrari | 5 | France 2 (collision), Austria 1 (impeding), Austin 2 (ignoring red flags) |
| M. Ericsson | Sauber | 5 | China 3 (failing to slow for yellows), Baku 2 (collision) |
| S. Perez | Force India | 5 | Baku 2 (overtaking behind SC), Singapore 3 (collision) |
| P. Gasly | Toro Rosso | 4 | China 2 (collision), Britain 2 (collision) |
| V. Bottas | Mercedes | 4 | Hungary 2 (collision), Belgium 2 (collision) |
| N. Hulkenberg | Renault | 3 | Belgium 3 (collision) |
| C. Sainz | Renault | 3 | Germany 2 (overtaking under SC), USA 1 (gaining an advantage) |
| S. Vandoorne | McLaren | 3 | Spain 1 (corner cutting), Brazil 2 (blue flags) |
| D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | 2 | Australia 2 (speeding under red flags) |
| K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | 2 | Britain 2 (collision) |
| K. Magnussen | Haas | 2 | Baku 2 (collision) |
| C. Leclerc | Sauber | 0 | N/A |
| L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 0 | N/A |
