F1 penalty points: George Russell and Nico Hulkenberg hit after Monaco mistakes

Pierre Gasly leads the way in the F1 penalty points standings, but George Russell is closing the gap at the front…

Gasly recently managed to lose two penalty points from his licence, having been just two away from receiving an automatic ban as he was just one transgression away from hitting the 12 points that triggers the punishment of sitting out a race weekend.

With the Alpine driver down to a slightly more reasonable eight points on his licence, it’s Mercedes’ George Russell who is now his closest rival for the attentions of the FIA stewards.

Russell had been on four points coming to Monaco, but picked up another two as a result of his mistake at Mirabeau when the rain arrived in the final third of the race. Sliding off into the escape area, Russell managed to avoid hitting anything but, when resuming the track, pulled out directly into the path of the approaching Sergio Perez – resulting in a collision that both were fortunate to avoid serious damage.

Nico Hulkenberg also blotted his licence with two points, having had a fully blank slate coming to Monte Carlo. The German driver was judged to have caused a collision with Logan Sargeant when he overtook the Williams driver via a divebomb into Mirabeau on the first lap, with Hulkenberg not being given the usual first-lap benefit of the doubt.

Formula 1’s penalty points system is in place to keep driver behaviour under control, in the same way as regular road users, with 12 points on their FIA super licence over a 12-month period resulting in a one-race ban.

Penalty points are issued for driver transgressions, with the amount varying depending on the severity of the incident and, once a year has passed since that particular offence, their points get wiped, meaning they have to be careful to avoid crossing that fateful 12-point threshold.

Alex Albon moves down to three points this week, having picked up a point at last year’s Monaco Grand Prix, while third-place finisher Esteban Ocon also sheds a point after causing a collision with Lewis Hamilton in last year’s race.

Meanwhile, several drivers continue their angelic run with completely clean licences. These include Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, as well as the three rookie drivers Logan Sargeant, Oscar Piastri, and Nyck de Vries.

Let’s see how the 20 drivers sit after the sixth race of the F1 2023 season.

Eight penalty points

Pierre Gasly

• Two points: Expire 10th July 2023. These were handed out for causing a collision with Sebastian Vettel during the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix.
• One point: Expires 10th July 2023. This was handed out for exceeding track limits during the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix.
• Two points: Expire 9th October 2023. These points were handed out for speeding under red flag conditions at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix
• Two points: Expire 23rd October 2023. These points were handed out for falling more than 10 car lengths behind the car in front during the Safety Car period at the 2022 United States Grand Prix.
• One point: Expires 30th October 2023. This point was given for forcing Lance Stroll off track and gaining an advantage at the 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix.

Six penalty points

George Russell

• Two points: Expire 10th July 2023. These were handed out for causing a collision with Sergio Perez during the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix.
• Two points: Expire 23rd October 2023. These were handed out for causing a collision with Carlos Sainz during the 2022 United States Grand Prix.
• Two points: Expire 28th May 2024. These were handed out for rejoining the track in an unsafe manner at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix, causing a collision with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

Five points

Lance Stroll

• Two points: Expire 23rd October 2023. These were handed out for causing a collision with Fernando Alonso during the 2022 United States Grand Prix.
• Three points: Expire 12th November 2023. These were handed out for a dangerous manoeuvre on Sebastian Vettel during the sprint at the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Four points

Yuki Tsunoda

• Two points: Expire 3rd July 2023. These were handed out for causing a collision with Pierre Gasly during the 2022 British Grand Prix.
• Two points: Expire September 9th 2023. These were handed out for failing to slow for yellow flags during FP2 for the Italian Grand Prix.

Three points

Alex Albon

• Two points: Expire 9th July 2023. These were handed out for forcing Lando Norris off track during the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix.
• One point: Expires 23rd October 2023. This was handed out for going off track and holding onto position during the 2022 United States Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso

• One point: Expires 19th June 2023. This was handed out for weaving while defending during the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix.
• Two points: Expires 12th November 2023. These were given for causing a collision with Esteban Ocon during the sprint at the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Lando Norris

• One point: Expires 10th July 2023. This was handed out for exceeding track limits during the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix.
• Two points: Expire 13th November 2023. These were handed out for causing a collision with Charles Leclerc during the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Zhou Guanyu

• One point: Expires 10th July 2023. This was handed out for exceeding track limits during the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix.
• Two points: Expire 23rd July 2023. These were handed out for causing a collision with Mick Schumacher during the 2022 French Grand Prix.

Two points

Esteban Ocon

• Two points: Expire 23rd July 2023. These were handed out for causing a collision with Yuki Tsunoda during the 2022 French Grand Prix.

Nico Hulkenberg

• Two points. Expire 29th May 2024. These were handed out at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix, for causing a collision with Williams’ Logan Sargeant.

Sergio Perez

• Two points: Expire 2nd October 2023. Issued after the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix for failing to stay within 10 car lengths of the Safety Car.

Carlos Sainz

• Two points: Expire 2nd April 2024. These were handed out for causing a collision with Fernando Alonso during the 2023 Australian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen

• Two points: Expire 13th November 2023. These were handed out for causing a collision with Lewis Hamilton during the 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix.

One point

Kevin Magnussen

• One point: Expires 11th September 2023. This was handed out for overtaking by leaving the track during the 2022 Italian Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc

• One point: Expires 9th October 2023. This point was added to Leclerc’s licence for leaving the track and gaining an advantage during the closing stages of the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix.

Zero points

Valtteri Bottas

Logan Sargeant

Oscar Piastri

Nyck de Vries

Lewis Hamilton

Inactive drivers with unexpired F1 penalty points

Daniel Ricciardo – six points

• Two points: Expire 30th July 2023. These were handed out for causing a collision with Lance Stroll during the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix.
• Two points: Expire 30th October 2023. These were given for causing a collision with Yuki Tsunoda during the 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix.
• Two points: Expire 13th November 2023. These were given for causing a collision with Kevin Magnussen during the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Nicholas Latifi – five points

• One point: Expires 12th June 2023. This was handed out for ignoring blue flags during the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
• Two points: Expire 2nd October 2023. These penalty points were issued for causing a collision with Zhou Guanyu during the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix.
• Two points: Expire 23rd October 2023. These were handed out for colliding with Mick Schumacher and pushing him off track at the 2022 United States Grand Prix.

Mick Schumacher – three points

• One point: Expires 23rd October 2023. This was handed out for exceeding track limits on four occasions during the 2022 United States Grand Prix.
• Two points: Expires 20th November 2023. These points were given to Mick Schumacher for causing a collision with Nicholas Latifi at the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel – two points

• One point: Expires 10th July 2023. This was handed out for exceeding track limits at the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix.
• One point: Expires 3rd September 2023. This was handed out for ignoring blue flags at the 2022 Dutch Grand Prix.