How many penalty points will F1 drivers start the 2025 season with?

The race organisers have several types of penalties at their disposal. For example, (conditional) fines, grid penalties, time penalties, warnings, reprimands and penalty points can be handed out. A driver may receive a maximum of 12 penalty points over the course of year without being punished further for this. If a driver gets more than 12 penalty points, an automatic race ban comes into play at the Grand Prix that follows. Since the introduction of this system, this has only happened once. Last year, Kevin Magnussen had to miss out on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after exceeding the maximum number allowed.

Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen - 8 penalty points

Liam Lawson - 2 penalty points

Verstappen will have to watch out in 2025, as he starts the season with no less than eight penalty points. The first two penalty points expire on 30 June, but the Dutchman will not be out of danger by then. Indeed, the rest of his points will remain on his license until very late in the season. On 27 October (2), 2 November (1), 1 December (1) and 8 December (2) to be precise. His brand-new teammate Liam Lawson is in a much better position, as he has only two penalty points to his name at the moment. These will expire on December 1.

McLaren

Lando Norris - 3 penalty points

Oscar Piastri - 4 penalty points

Norris will start the new season with the three penalty points he received from race control in Qatar 2024, for speeding under double yellow flags. He will retain these until 1 December 2025. Teammate Oscar Piastri has four points collected, these expire on 3 November (2) and 8 December (2).

Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton - 0 penalty points

Charles Leclerc - 0 penalty points

The Ferrari drivers start the 2025 Formula 1 season with a clean slate. Having behaved nicely in 2024, they won't have a single penalty point on their licence. As such, they would have to perform some very bold racing to be given a race ban in 2025.

Mercedes

George Russel - 1 point

Kimi Antonelli - 0 points

Russell also behaved fairly decently during the 2024 season, as the Briton takes just one penalty point heading into 2025. He received this one from race control in Qatar after not keeping enough of a distance from the Safety Car. That point therefore does not expire until December 1. Teammate Antonelli has yet to drive his first race, and thus has nothing on his record yet.

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso - 8 penalty points

Lance Stroll - 4 penalty points

Alonso, like Verstappen, must not make any appearance at the stewards for the wrong reason. Indeed, the Spaniard also starts the season with eight penalty points. All three times he was penalised for causing a collision. Alonso will not have to worry for long, as the first penalty points already expire on 24 March. The rest expire on 20 April (3) and 30 June (2). Teammate Stroll, while in a slightly better position, will also want to drive a bit more carefully in the coming period. Two penalty points expire on 21 April, while the remaining two do not expire until 1 December.

Alpine

Pierre Gasly - 0 penalty points

Jack Doohan - 0 penalty points

The men from Alpine are also starting with a clean slate as well, similarly to Ferrari. Doohan ran just one race in 2025, and managed to stay out of trouble in the process. Gasly did get involved in incidents during the season, but was not the one responsible according to the stewards, and thus remained at zero points.

Racing Bulls

Yuki Tsunoda - 0 penalty points

Isaak Hadjar - 0 penalty points

Tsunoda may be known for being high-tempered, but this is not reflected in his penalty point tally. The Japanese has not accumulated a single penalty point in 2024 and thus starts the new season without any points. His new teammate, rookie Isaak Hadjar, also starts at zero.

Haas

Esteban Ocon - 3 penalty points

Oliver Bearman - 2 penalties

Ocon starts the season with three penalty points. He received one penalty because of making contact with Leclerc in the pit lane at the Miami International Autodrome, the other two because of a crash with his ex-teammate, Gasly, in Monaco. These points expire this May, on 4 and 26. Bearman only competed in three races last year, two with Haas and one with Ferrari, but still collected two penalty points. These were given to the youngster because of his crash with Franco Colapinto in São Paulo, and will expire on 3 November.

Williams

Alex Albon - 2 penalty points

Carlos Sainz - 1 penalty point

Albon currently has two penalty points to his name. The Thai-British driver was penalised in Qatar for his crash with Kevin Magnussen. The points will expire on 1 December. Teammate Sainz does not have to worry for now either, starting the season with only one penalty point. He received this penalty because of his crash with Piastri in Miami. That will expire on 5 May.

Sauber

Nico Hülkenberg - 4 penalty points

Gabriel Bortoleto - 0 penalty points

Hülkenberg was twice at fault in 2024. He received two penalty points in Austria for causing a collision with Alonso and two penalty points in Italy for a crash with Tsunoda. These points will expire on 29 June and 1 September respectively. 2024 F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto will make his debut in Melbourne.

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