Max Verstappen has to survive just one more Formula 1 weekend without picking up a penalty point to avoid being banned from the British Grand Prix.
The two penalty points he was given for causing a collision with Lando Norris in last year’s Austrian GP will expire on the Monday after this year’s grand prix at the Red Bull Ring, taking Verstappen away from the penalty point danger zone he’s in right now.
And with the FIA revealing the penalty guidelines for the stewards on the Thursday of the Austrian GP, we now know the potential offences that would trigger a ban.
Of course, there are the two or three penalty point offences - like the ones Verstappen committed in causing collisions with Norris (twice), George Russell and Oscar Piastri - but there are also eight one-point offences that would be enough to take him to a ban. And those include some fairly innocuous incidents.
Two potential one-point offences
The breach of crossing a line or missing a bollard at the pit entry - which Lewis Hamilton did in Austria last year and copped a five-second penalty for it - carries with it the risk of one penalty point as per the guidelines.
Though it’s worth noting last year’s Austrian GP stewards didn’t give Hamilton a penalty point, saying in their judgement “the manoeuvre was not considered dangerous in any way, therefore the least severe penalty available is imposed”.
There’s the same suggestion of a maximum of one penalty point for the offence of crossing the line at the pit exit, too. It’s at the stewards’ discretion to award a penalty point or not for those offences.
Six automatic one-point offences
You can pick up a single point in qualifying if you’re judged to have left the track and rejoined unsafely. This carries a bigger two-point penalty in the grand prix but the suggestion is an automatic one point if you do it in qualifying.
Unless Verstappen hits serious misfortune on Sunday or Red Bull has its worst performance deficit of 2025 he shouldn’t have to worry about this one: drivers should be given one or two penalty points for failing to respect blue flags, depending on the severity of the infringement, alongside either a time penalty or a drive-through.
The punishments for exceeding the minimum time set behind the safety car and virtual safety cars are clearly set out. Post two or three red sectors under either, and you’ll be given one penalty point. Post more, and you can be given up to four.
Verstappen picked up a penalty point for breaching the minimum time behind a virtual safety car in the Brazil sprint race last year.
If you exceed the virtual safety car minimum delta time at the end of the virtual safety car that should result in an automatic issuing of a penalty point.
If an unsafe release from a pitstop is deemed to be the fault of a driver, the two options listed are one or two penalty points, depending on the severity of the incident.
'It's not fun for anybody'
Few drivers are satisfied with the current penalty points situation.
Pierre Gasly, who found himself close to crossing into the 12-point race ban threshold in 2023, said "I’m not a big fan of penalty points.
"The level we have in Formula 1 – we are professional in what we do. We obviously push things to the limits, but to have a race ban potentially… I was in that situation a couple of years ago, and I don’t think I was a dangerous driver on track.
"So, for me, it’s something that can be reviewed, and maybe there’s another way of applying some sort of penalties without getting into the risk of having a driver missing a race."
Isack Hadjar said it was "not needed" in such a "clean field" of drivers, while Aston Martin's Lance Stroll highlighted how fairly innocuous incidents can get you penalised.
"If you miss a bollard in FP2 and you get three penalty points and you get a race ban, it's not fun for anybody," Stroll said.
"Maybe they need to give that a think. I can understand why Max is probably not a fan of the system right now."
Were you to miss the pit entry bollard in FP2, you would escape with a warning as per the penalty guidance, but if you were judged to have done so "dangerously", you'd likely be given two points.
And as for Verstappen? When asked on Thursday at the Austrian if he'd race any differently this weekend, he replied: "you’re joking? Is this like a trap? I'm getting this question every single time, every weekend."
