F1 Penalty Points 2026: Star already facing race ban ahead of Australian Grand Prix

After a multitude of penalties were handed out to F1 stars for driving infringements throughout last year's championship, there is one driver who must race particularly carefully in this weekend's 2026 season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Haas F1 star Ollie Bearman edged even closer to a race ban at last year's season finale in Abu Dhabi when the FIA slapped him with a five-second time penalty and an extra penalty point for changing direction more than once whilst defending against the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.

Bearman has now racked up a total of 10 penalty points, meaning he is only two points away from a race ban heading into the first race of the 2026 season in Melbourne.

F1's governing body hands out disciplinary penalty points for driving infringements, which are then added to a driver's FIA Super Licence, with 12 points in a 12-month period enough to trigger a race ban.

As a result, Bearman must play nicely out on track at not just the first grand prix of the year, but also the following five race weekends, with the first of his current penalty points tally not expiring until May 23 ahead of the Canadian GP.

This is when two will come off after being on his licence since last year's Monaco GP, when the 20-year-old picked them up for overtaking under red flag conditions.

Stroll also received a penalty point at last year's season-ending Abu Dhabi GP, as did Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson and ex-Red Bull star Yuki Tsunoda, although he won't be returning to the grid in a full-time position having been dropped in favour of Isack Hadjar for the upcoming 2026 campaign.

Here are the F1 driver penalty point standings ahead of the Australian GP.

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F1 Driver penalty points ahead of Australian GP

Every F1 driver's penalty points and when they expire

Red Bull

Max Verstappen - Three points

Isack Hadjar - Zero points

Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton - Three points

Charles Leclerc - One point

Mercedes

George Russell - Zero points

Kimi Antonelli - Five points

Alpine

Pierre Gasly - Two points

Franco Colapinto - One point

McLaren

Lando Norris - Zero points

Oscar Piastri - Four points

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso - Zero points

Lance Stroll - Six points

Haas

Esteban Ocon - Zero points

Ollie Bearman - 10 points

Racing Bulls

Liam Lawson - Six points

Arvid Lindblad - Zero points

Williams

Carlos Sainz - Four points

Alex Albon - Five points

Cadillac

Valtteri Bottas - Zero points

Sergio Perez - Zero points

Audi

Nico Hulkenberg - Zero points

Gabriel Bortoleto - Two points

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