F1 Penalty Points: Ollie Bearman closest to race ban after Japanese GP

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 the early stages of the 2026 campaign, and that is Ollie Bearman.

The Haas F1 star is now flirting with a race ban with 10 penalty points to his name after last weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, which marked the third race of the 2026 season and the last before the sport takes over a month off from racing.

As the conflict continues to rage on in the Middle East, F1 moved to cancel both of the April races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, but Bearman still won't be off the hook when he returns to race in the Miami GP and sprint event in May.

The British driver has now racked up a total of 10 penalty points, meaning he is only two away from a race ban heading into the Miami GP. So, he must play nicely out on track, especially considering the first of his current penalty points tally doesn’t expire until May 23, one day before the Canadian GP.

The 20-year-old must avoid his driving being considered: "dangerous, reckless or apparently deliberate," "unacceptable or unsportsmanlike behaviour," or, "causing a collision" at the Miami GP weekend and during FP1 and sprint qualifying in Montreal this year.

But one thing that may avoid him picking up a race ban is that the stewards now refer to tighter Driving Standards Guidelines when issuing penalties, meaning less points are likely to be given out for infringements such as those Bearman was found guilty of in the past.

Here are the F1 driver penalty point standings following the Japanese GP.

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F1 driver penalty points after Japanese GP

F1 driver 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 - Three points

Cadillac

Valtteri Bottas - Zero points

Sergio Perez - Zero points

Audi

Nico Hulkenberg - Zero points

Gabriel Bortoleto - Two points

READ MORE: Bearman medical update announced after terrifying 300kph crash

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

View full biography

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