How Max Verstappen remains one incident from RACE BAN

Following the Austrian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen may have a little breathing space with regards to his penalty points, but the F1 champion’s race ban saga is not over just yet.

Up until Austria, Verstappen was one incident and a penalty point away from a race ban, with 11 points on his FIA super licence meaning that an additional point would have taken him to the 12-point threshold in 12 months.

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However, the Dutchman managed to stay out of trouble in Canada and Austria, and two points have fallen off his licence on June 30, taking him down to the total of nine.

Whilst a race ban is no longer perilously close, the champion remains the driver with the most amount of penalty points on the grid.

Verstappen also has to wait until October this year before a further two points are deducted, and any number of incidents could happen between now and then.

The FIA recently published their penalty guidelines, which offers some indication of the sheer number of incidents a driver can receive a handful of penalty points for if they step out of line.

Verstappen himself collected three for purposefully crashing into George Russell at the Spanish GP, and whilst it is unlikely the champion will attempt a similar manoeuvre again in 2025, Yuki Tsunoda’s two penalty points in Austria demonstrate how easy it can be for a driver to make a split-second error.

With up to four penalty points able to be issued for a single incident depending on its severity, Verstappen is still just one incident away from reaching that 12-point threshold for an automatic race ban.

Verstappen has nine more race weekends to survive before a further two points are dropped from his super licence, after October's Mexican GP.

F1 Driver Penalty Points

Every F1 driver's penalty points and when they expire

Red Bull

Max Verstappen - Nine points

Yuki Tsunoda - Four points

Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton - Zero points

Charles Leclerc - Zero points

Mercedes

George Russell - One point

Kimi Antonelli - Two points

Alpine

Pierre Gasly - Zero points

Franco Colapinto - One point

Jack Doohan - Four points

McLaren

Lando Norris - Three points

Oscar Piastri - Four points

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso - Zero points

Lance Stroll - Three points

Haas

Esteban Ocon - No points

Ollie Bearman - Four points

Racing Bulls

Liam Lawson - Six points

Isack Hadjar - Zero points

Williams

Carlos Sainz - Two points

Alex Albon - Two points

Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg - Two points

Gabriel Bortoleto - Zero points

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Written by

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Sheona Mountford is a motorsport journalist specialising in F1. As a writer and contributor, she covers a wide range of motorsport series from F1 to F1 Academy, responsible for breaking news, live race coverage and in depth analysis of the sport and the culture around it.

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