What penalties can drivers receive and how do they get banned?

Just like in any other sport, in Formula 1 if drivers don’t follow the rules set out by the FIA, then they can be penalised for it.

However, it isn’t rare for drivers to find themselves victims of bizarrely harsh penalties which sometimes don’t even seem to make sense – like the infamous 65-grid penalty Stoffel Vandoorne suffered in Spa in 2017.

F1 can be a complicated form of motorsport and sometimes penalties confuse viewers because of their technicality. What is the reason behind a penalty? Why are there different types of penalties?

Here’s what penalties occur in F1, what different punishments drivers are given, how teams may also be penalised and how it can lead to a race ban.

What are F1 penalties?

There are a range of F1 penalties, depending on the severity of the driver’s or team’s action.

Warnings

Starting with warnings, which are the least harsh penalties a driver can get. For example, if a driver exceeds track limits during a race, they are given a warning. Once they earn a number of warnings, they are faced with a time penalty.

Reprimands

Meanwhile, drivers are allowed four reprimands in a season, and with the fifth one, they face a 10-place grid penalty. A reprimand is similar to a warning, for example, Sebastian Vettel received one for a non-sporting offence when he wore a ‘Same Love’ shirt at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda received a fifth reprimand of the season for a sporting offence when he drove to the pits with loose seatbelts in Zandvoort, causing a severe safety hazard, meaning he was given a 10-place grid drop for the next race in Italy.

Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, and Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT02, on the grid

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images

Time penalties

Time penalties are served when the drivers pit and the crew can’t work on the car before the penalty passes. If they don’t pit again before the race ends, the penalty is added to their finishing time. Reasons why drivers receive such penalties vary.

Esteban Ocon was the victim of a hat-trick of time penalties in the 2023 season opener in Bahrain. He received a five-second penalty for having his right front tyre outside the starting box before lights out, then another 10-second penalty because one of the mechanics started working on the car 4.6 seconds into the first penalty, and another five-second penalty for exceeding the…