F1 2023: Drivers and their penalty points before Spanish GP

The F1 penalty points are awarded to drivers for their transgressions during a race weekend. These transgressions could be anything ranging from causing an incident, dangerously blocking another competitor, or driving in an unsafe manner in the pitlane.

Each of these transgressions based on their severity have different F1 penalty points attached to them, and once a driver accumulates 12 penalty points within 12 months, he faces a suspension for one race. The penalty points will continue to be on the driver's quota for 12 months before expiry.

Let's take a look at where each driver stands in terms of penalty points on the current grid before the 2023 F1 Spanish GP.

Lewis Hamilton

Penalty Points: 0

Trust the F1 legend to keep things clean more often than not. Lewis Hamilton has no penalty points to his name.

George Russell

Penalty Points: 6

George Russell has six penalty points to his name accrued over the last 12 months. The latest of them were accrued in the Monaco GP.

• Two points: Causing a collision with Sergio Perez during the 2022 F1 Austrian GP (Expires: 10th July 2023)
• Two points: Causing a collision with Carlos Sainz during the 2022 F1 US GP (Expires 23rd October 2023)
• Two points: Rejoining the track in an unsafe manner at the 2023 Monaco GP and causing a collision with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez (Expires 28th May 2024)

Max Verstappen

Penalty Points: 2

Max Verstappen has two points to his name that were accrued during his collision with Lewis Hamilton in Brazil last season.

• Two points: Causing a collision with Lewis Hamilton during the 2022 Brazilian GP (Expires 13th November 2023)

Sergio Perez

Penalty Points: 2

Sergio Perez accrued his two points during the controversial post-race penalty of failing to stay within 10 car lengths of the Safety Car.

• Two points: Failing to stay within 10 car lengths of the Safety Car (Expires 2nd October 2023)

Charles Leclerc

Penalty Points: 1

Charles Leclerc got his sole indiscretion last season during his battle with Sergio Perez at the 2022 F1 Japanese GP. The Ferrari driver has one penalty point over the last 12 months.

• One point: Leaving the track and gaining an advantage in the 2022 F1 Japanese GP (Expires 9th October 2023).

Carlos Sainz

Penalty Points: 2

Carlos Sainz got his two penalty points most recently in the infamous collision with Fernando Alonso during the Red Flag restart in Australia.

• Two points: Causing a collision with Fernando Alonso during the 2023 F1 Australian GP (Expires 2nd April 2024).

Lando Norris

Penalty Points: 3

Norris has three penalty points to his name in the last 12 months.

• One point: Exceeding track limits during the 2022 F1 Austrian GP (Expires 10th July 2023).
• Two points: Causing a collision with Charles Leclerc during the 2022 F1 Sao Paulo GP (Expires 13th November 2023).

Oscar Piastri

Penalty Points: 0

Piastri has kept things simple at the start of his career and hasn't seen the stewards' room in his first five races.

Fernando Alonso

Penalty Points: 3

Fernando Alonso has carried over three points from last season during his time at Alpine.

• One point: Weaving while defending during the 2022 F1 Canadian GP (Expires 19th June 2023).
• Two points: Causing a collision with Esteban Ocon during the sprint at the 2022 Sao Paulo GP (Expires 12th November 2023).

Lance Stroll

Penalty Points: 5

Lance Stroll has five points accrued over the last 12 months.

• Two points: Causing a collision with Fernando Alonso during the 2022 F1 US GP (Expires 23rd October 2023).
• Three points: Dangerous maneuver on Sebastian Vettel during the sprint at the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix (Expires 12th November 2023).

Esteban Ocon

Penalty Points: 3

The Alpine driver has accrued three points over the last 12 months when he was teamed up with Fernando Alonso.

• One point: Causing a collision with Lewis Hamilton during the 2022 Monaco GP (Expires 29th May 2023).
• Two points: Causing a collision with Yuki Tsunoda during the 2022 F1 French GP (Expires 23rd July 2023).

Pierre Gasly

Penalty Points: 8

There aren't many drivers that would be happy to see that they have eight penalty points accrued in the last 12 months.

Pierre Gasly is an exception because in his case he's come down from a much bigger number.

• Two points: Causing a collision with Sebastian Vettel during the 2022 Austrian GP (Expires 10th July 2023).
• One point: Exceeding track limits during the 2022 F1 Austrian GP (Expires 10th July 2023).
• Two points: Speeding under red flag conditions at the 2022 Japanese GP (Expires 9th October 2023).
• Two points: Falling more than 10 car lengths behind the car in front during the Safety Car period at the 2022 US GP.
• One point: Forcing Lance Stroll off track and gaining an advantage at the 2022 Mexican GP (Expires 30th October 2023).

Nyck de Vries

Penalty Points:0

Fortunately for the AlphaTauri driver, until now in the first five races, even though he's been part of a few collisions, he hasn't been awarded a penalty point.

Yuki Tsunoda

Penalty Points: 4

The much improved Yuki Tsunoda has four penalty points accrued over the last 12 months.

• Two points: Causing a collision with Pierre Gasly during the 2022 British GP (Expires 3rd July 2023).
• Two points: Failing to slow for yellow flags during FP2 for the Italian Grand Prix (Expires September 9th, 2023).

Logan Sargeant

Penalty Points: 0

Logan Sargeant has banged up his car quite a few times this season but fortunately for him, there hasn't been any visit to the stewards room resulting in penalty points.

Alex Albon

Penalty Points: 3

The Williams lead driver has three penalty points accrued over the last 12 months.

• Two points: These were handed out for forcing Lando Norris off track during the 2022 Austrian GP (Expires 9th July 2023).
• One point: This was handed out for going off track and holding onto position during the 2022 US GP (Expires 23rd October 2023).

Kevin Magnussen

Penalty Points:1

The Danish driver only has one penalty point in Monza last season.

• One point: This was handed out for overtaking by leaving the track during the 2022 Italian Grand Prix (Expires 11th September 2023).

Nico Hulkenberg

Penalty Points:0

The German has kept his nose clean ever since he's come back to the sport this season.

• Two points. Causing a collision with Williams’ Logan Sargeant at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix (Expires 29th May 2024)

Valtteri Bottas

Penalty Points:0

Bottas has not accrued any penalty points in the last 12 months.

Guanyu Zhou

Penalty Points: 3

The Chinese driver has three points to him in the last 12 months.

• One point: Exceeding track limits during the 2022 Austrian GP (Expires 10th July 2023).
• Two points: Causing a collision with Mick Schumacher during the 2022 French Grand Prix (Expires 23rd July 2023).