Following the Miami Grand Prix, Haas driver Kevin Magnussen is on the verge of a potential race ban with Ferrari junior driver Oliver Bearman set to race again should the Dane earn further penalty points. F1Technical's Balázs Szabó reviews the current state of penalty points of the field.

Penalty points are given to drivers who do something that the FIA stewards deem dangerous. This could be forcing someone off the track, causing a collision, ignoring yellow flags, etc.

When a driver receives a penalty point, it remains on their superlicense for 12 months. Drivers face an automatic one-race suspension if they accrue 12 penalty points across a rolling 12-month period. Should this happen, the team is allowed to run another driver in their stead.

Following an incident-filled race weekend in Miami, Kevin Magnussen finds himself in a very difficult situation as he has collected a total of ten penalty points so far. Problematically for the Dane, he has earned all these points this year which means that the next time that penalty points expire is the 9th March 2025. Subsequently, should Magnussen receive two more points until the start of next season, he will definitely miss a race.

The Haas driver earned his first penalty points at this year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix where he was blamed for causing a collision with Williams racer Alexander Albon. Three points were added to his licence.

At the Chinese Grand Prix, he was found guilty of causing a collision with Visa Cash RB driver Yuki Tsunoda for which he earned two penalty points.

Last weekend, he was involved in a long battle with Lewis Hamilton in the Miami F1 Sprint. The Dane aggressively defended his position so that the seven-time world champion could not overtake him. His aggressive approach was motivated by the fact that he wanted to defend his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, who was on course to take two championship points with a seventh-placed finish.

Sunday’s 57-lap Miami race then saw Magnussen collide with Logan Sargeant for which he was blamed. As a result, the Dane received a further two points.

The four incidents have put Magnussen in a very difficult position as he needs to complete the rest of the year without any more penalty points if he is to avoid a race ban.

What does the situation look like across the field?

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Logan Sargeant are also in a difficult position, albeit not in such a danger as Magnussen.

The Mexican currently has eight penalty points on his licence. He was handed a penalty point at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix for causing a collision with Alexander Albon before collecting two points for overtaking under Safety Car conditions and another two points for causing a collision with Magnussen at the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver was then found guilty of causing a collision with Lando Norris in Abu Dhabi before having been handed a penalty point for an unsafe release in Saudi Arabia this year.

Sargeant as handed two points in Monza last year for an incident with Valtteri Bottas before receiving a further two points in Singapore for an incident with the Finn once again. Last year's Mexican round saw the American fail to comply with the yellow-flag rule for which was given two points. The Williams racer then overtook Kevin Magnussen at this year's Shanghai F1 round, which saw the number of penalty points on his licence increase to a total of eight.

The two Aston Martin drivers Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso have a fairly high amount of points on their licence too. The Canadian has currently seven points, but two of them will expire in July. The Spaniard has been given six points over the last 12-month period, three with an incident with George Russell in Melbourne and a further three for causing a collision with Carlos Sainz

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have both four penalty points on their licence while Yuki Tsunoda and Nico Hulkenberg have scored three points apiece. Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon have two penalty points apiece.

Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc, Alexander Albon, Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris have no points on their licence.