Kevin Magnussen race ban highlights overly-harsh penalty points system as F1 calendar expands

Kevin Magnussen’s race ban this weekend in Azerbaijan has brought into sharp focus the current penalty points system and the intent of its use.

Magnussen picked up two penalty points at the Italian Grand Prix, bringing him to 12 points on his F1 super licence and thus automatically triggering a race ban, meaning he sits out this weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

What crimes has Kevin Magnussen committed over the last 12 months?

Magnussen has committed five separate incidents which earned him penalty points over the last 12 months to trigger the automatic race ban – the first driver to fall foul of the 12-point rule since being introduced in 2014.

Magnussen is also the first driver in 12 years to pick up a race ban, since Romain Grosjean was given the draconian punishment for triggering the first-corner crash at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix that caused a huge collision.

All of Magnussen’s points-earning punishments were handed out this season, with the slate being wiped clean to restore him to zero after the Baku weekend.

• Three points were awarded for causing a collision with Alex Albon during the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
• Two points were awarded for causing a collision with Yuki Tsunoda during the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix.
• Three points were awarded for leaving the track and gaining an advantage on multiple occasions during the 2024 Miami Grand Prix Sprint as additional ‘aggravating circumstances’, following multiple time penalties.
• Two points were awarded for causing a collision with Logan Sargeant during the 2024 Miami Grand Prix.
• Two points were awarded for causing a collision with Pierre Gasly during the 2024 Italian Grand Prix.

It’s worth noting that these incidents triggered race-ruining time penalties in the first place and none could be said to be particularly dangerous – the most that could really be said about the various collisions was that they were clumsy, as opposed to being calamitous.

Speaking after being given his penalty for a collision with Alpine ‘s Pierre Gasly in Monza, which caused him to hit the 12-point mark, a frustrated Magnussen said he “didn’t understand it at all” as the pair’s inconsequential contact triggered the circumstances for a race ban.

“Me and Gasly raced hard into Turn 4, we had slight contact,” he said.

“We both missed the corner, came back on track again, no damage to either car, no consequence to the race of either of us, and I get a 10-second penalty.

“Then, Lap 1, [Daniel] Ricciardo and Nico [Hulkenberg], you know, Ricciardo put Nico in the grass at 300 kilometres an hour, completely destroyed Nico’s race, massive consequence and damage to Nico’s car, and he gets a five-second penalty.

“You know, where’s the logic? I just don’t get it.”

Even Gasly felt the incident wasn’t worth the punishment afterward, further highlighting what could be viewed as excessive interference from the stewards when it comes to letting the drivers race.

“Honestly, this was nothing,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com, after the Monza race, before confirmation of Magnussen’s ban.

“I hope somehow they can revert on that because that would be definitely unfair [to get a race ban]”.

The purpose of the penalty points system was to give the FIA a mechanism with which to rein in drivers who are a danger to themselves and to others around them, but the lines between that and a punitive system to apportion blame in every racing scenario have become blurred over the years.

After all, employing the use of a penalty points system akin to the standard punishment protocol used to keep regular drivers in check in many countries doesn’t mean that the stewards should be seeking to hand out points for every single transgression – particularly when the drivers being punished are already being given time penalties that wreck their chances, which surely is enough of a deterrent.

What support has Kevin Magnussen had?

Quite a few drivers spoke out about the fact Magnussen has picked up a race ban as they spoke to the media on Thursday. The Danish driver is well-known for being an exceptionally hard racer, one of the most difficult to overtake as he takes the defensive game extremely seriously – to the point of destroying his own race, if needs be.

Surely, then, the drivers must be delighted that a message has been sent to Magnussen and other drivers that collisions – sprinkled through a season as they are – won’t be tolerated.

“Obviously, there’s a history, how that happened and accumulated all those penalty points,” Magnussen’s Haas team-mate Nico Hulkenberg said in Baku. “But if you look just isolated at the Monza incident, I think that’s racing, you know?

“I mean, pretty straightforward, fair and square racing. I don’t see two penalty points for that, or that 10-second penalty – even that’s very harsh. I think my opinion and most drivers feel the same way about that.

“If you can’t sometimes overtake, we have to leave the comfort zone and take some risk. And then that kind of happens sometimes.

“It seems a bit that the stewards whenever there’s a little contact, they want to get involved. They want to have a consequence for it, which I think the drivers feel is not really necessary for every contact.

“Maybe the penalty guidelines or whatever, maybe need to be reviewed and changed, because we need to be able to race and it’s just difficult. Otherwise, it will be boring and dull because we can’t do that anymore, we’d just get penalised all the time.”

Alex Albon, who spoke about Magnussen’s defence at Zandvoort as being “dangerous”, also said he thinks the way the system is being used isn’t correct and that, while the Danish driver has carried out dangerous actions, not everything he’s done has warranted penalty points.

“I don’t think anyone’s a real fan of it. It’s been introduced, maybe for different reasons. I think punishment in the race itself should be what’s done,” he said.

“If I look back at the instances that Kevin rated in a couple of races – in those races, he should have been penalised much more than he was and then that set a precedent, and then he kept repeating them, and then it got a little bit messy.

“But I don’t think anything he’s done has… there’s been a couple where they’ve been actually dangerous, but a lot of them have not been.”

But, while Magnussen hasn’t been an angel on track to trigger five separate incidents which the stewards felt warranted penalty points, where is the line of acceptability? Five race weekends sprinkled throughout a 24-race calendar, with six Sprint races on top of that, and, all of a sudden, 12 penalty points seems very easy to accumulate for a racing driver rolling up their sleeves for a scrap.

Should five or six at-fault collisions over a 30-race calendar be enough to trigger a race ban? Given the increase in the number of races, surely there’s an argument for increasing the penalty point allowance to capture the consistently aggressive drivers, if that’s what the FIA want to continue punishing.

“I was in a similar situation and almost got banned three years ago, or whatever,” said Yuki Tsunoda.

“I think, if I understood correctly, the penalty points don’t seem changed over the last 10 years since they were introduced.

“Now the races are getting more and more so it feels like those penalty points should get a little bit more compliant, I guess, it seems kind of strict for 24 races.

“More races, more sprint races. It’s a much higher chance than previous seasons. So I think it’s good to recheck that maximum points. Seven years ago, it was 18 races or whatever. So six more races, on top of Sprint races, yeah, it’s too much.”

Tsunoda believes it should be down purely to collisions between drivers, with those collisions being assessed on a case-by-case basis rather than issuing penalty points every time a driver is found at fault.

“I feel it’s a bit strict with 12 points but everyone is the same so I guess we have to deal with it,” he said.

“If track limits gets penalty points, that’s too much. Track limits, I mean, you get enough penalty in the race and race results. So I don’t think it’s necessary to put penalty points on it, but collisions, I guess it’s good to have, but [it should be] case by case, for sure.

“FIA seems to look at it case by case by case anyway, because, in some cases, they give the driver one point instead of two – it depends on the situation.”

More on penalty points and the FIA F1 penalty system

👉 F1’s penalty system explained: How does a driver pick up a penalty from the FIA?

👉 F1 penalty points: Kevin Magnussen triggers race ban with Italian GP incident

Alex Albon eager to see penalty points system reworked

With Magnussen banned for a series of low-level transgressions as opposed to an egregious example of dangerous driving ala Grosjean, the Danish driver risks being the first of many similar punishments – Pierre Gasly came dangerously close to a similar ban last year, and glaringly went without points for an intra-Alpine collision with Esteban Ocon that likely would have triggered penalty points had it been with any other driver.

But, while Magnussen may not have done anything particularly dangerous, Grand Prix Drivers’ Association director George Russell believes the system does what it’s supposed to do in sending a message to drivers coming up through the ranks and that continuously aggressive driving will be punished.

“It’s a conversation that’s been had a number of times in previous years, as drivers have sailed close to the wind. No one’s been banned in 12 years,” he said.

“So you could argue, were the penalty points actually harsh enough? You could argue.

“His penalty points from Monza seemed a little bit harsh but you could also argue some of the other incidents perhaps were not harsh enough.

“So, I think also we need to set a bit of a precedent as well for the junior series. Those guys look up to us in F4, F3, F2, and you shouldn’t be allowed to get away with dangerous or erratic driving, and, at some point, you do need to be punished for it.”

2016 F1 World Champion Nico Rosberg, never one to shy away from a strong opinion, said the ban sends a strong message that being so stubborn in approach to racing won’t pay dividends in the long run.

“Magnussen just has to learn at some point that he needs to take it a bit more easy,” said the Sky F1 pundit.

“Because it just happens too often.”

Given there’s a lack of cohesion amongst the drivers in feeling that Magnussen actually deserved a race ban, this suggests the Danish driver didn’t do enough to justify the punishment that has been meted out – the apparent need for a bureaucratic decision and administration of penalties for every incident playing a bigger role than it should.

It’s not a particularly enjoyable way to go racing and, given Magnussen’s licence is wiped clean following the ban, he can go hell for leather in the final races of the year without any need to hold back as he bids to find a future in motor racing.

“It seems a little bit odd, it even seems odd that it resets straight after your one-race ban, and then you’re back on a clean slate again!” Albon laughed.

“If he was a pain before, he’s maybe going to be a bigger pain now! But that’s just the way it is.”

It’s high time for the FIA to review the penalty points system, and perhaps lean more heavily on the time penalties serving as the deterrent for racing incidents, rather than the penalty points – after all, drivers care far more about their final results at the chequered flag than calculating the potential effect of a misjudged divebomb on their super licence.

Thankfully, it’s a system Albon says he’s confident is going to be revised – even if that doesn’t help Magnussen out right now.

“We have spoken about it at driver’s briefings with the FIA – everyone’s under an understanding that we’ve just got to shuffle the system around a little bit,” the Williams driver said.

“It needs to be a little bit more forgiving around what constitutes penalty points and whatnot. I think, if it’s done right then it can be okay to have.

“I think if it’s genuinely dangerous – I remember I was getting penalty points for track limits, that’s kind of been removed now, I think.

“I think the whole system is just going to get reworded. There are other things as well, with traffic and pit entries and when the team is to blame and when the driver is to blame.

“Sometimes drivers get points for team problems, let’s say, so… I don’t have the whole list with me, but we’ll go through it and I’m sure some of it will be addressed for next year.”

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