The threat of Pierre Gasly receiving a race ban has subdued slightly after the first penalty points of the year have dropped from his Super Licence.
Since late last year, Gasly was just two penalty points away from being handed a race ban having tallied 10 during the campaign.
Drivers were critical of how freely the points were being issued by the stewards, with some taking issue over their use in instances such as track limit breaches.
Should a driver accumulate 12 points in 12 months, they are automatically issued a race ban.
The stewards have been more lenient in the early stages of the 2023 season, with Carlos Sainz being the only driver to receive penalty points this year (2, following contact with Fernando Alonso in Australia).
Gasly’s Super Licence now reads eight penalty points, as the two he received for colliding with Lance Stroll at last year’s Spanish Grand Prix have been dropped 12 months on from the incident.
However, his total will remain at eight (provided he doesn’t pick up more) until July 10, when he will lose the three points he picked up for various incidents in Austria last year.
But he still leads the field with the highest tally despite losing two points.
Behind the Frenchman sits Alexander Albon and Lance Stroll, who have five each.
At the other end of the table, Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri, Nico Hulkenberg, Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant have no points on their licence.
View the full list of penalty points here.
