The weekend of the first Formula 1 GP ever held in Qatar aroused, as had happened in Brazil, repeated controversy between the two mastering teams of this championship: Mercedes and Red Bull. To the debate on the suspicious power of the power unit used by Mercedes at Interlagos and to the cross-accusations about the flexibility of the respective rear wings, however, the sanction imposed on Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen for not slowing down sufficiently under the yellow flags regime during Saturday’s qualifying. Bottas did not respect a single yellow flag and was penalized with three positions on the grid and one point on his license. Verstappen – whose case caused much more sensation as the Dutchman is in full battle for the world championship – instead ignored a double yellow flag, being relegated by five positions and suffering two penalty points.
However, on the issue of penalty points attributed to the Dutchman, it is interesting to make a small reflection. In fact, normally ignoring a double yellow flag entails a penalty of three points on the driver’s license. From a practical point of view, little changes immediately for the Red Bull driver, but in all three similar situations occurred this year – Vettel in Bahrain during qualifying, Mazepin and Latifi in Austria in the race – the penalty has always been three points. The Federation itself, in the official document that sanctions the penalty to Verstappen, uses as terms of comparison two penalties applied in the past to those who had not respected danger signs in qualifying: Vettel in the aforementioned case of the start of the season and Hamilton, who in 2020 in Austria had not respected a single yellow flag.
The case of Verstappen is – logically – placed side by side with the precedent of the Aston Martin driver, given that even in that case the ignored yellow flag was double. The actual penalty on the grid is identical, but the disciplinary sanction differs in the penalty points. Reading the FIA document, the only point that seems to justify a reduction of this penalty is the addition in brackets, which highlights that the lighting system, in that stretch, was not active. This detail should be what prevented the current leader of the world classification from receiving the maximum penalty. It should also be added that in the case of Vettel, as can be read from the document, there had been a failure to comply with the indications given by the race director before the event. This is a further point which – comparing the two cases – could have contributed to the heavier disciplinary sanction for the German.
Pilot |
Points |
Points Attributed |
GP |
Motivation |
Expiration |
Sergio Perez |
7 |
2 |
Emilia Romagna 2021 |
Overtaking under the regime of S.Car |
18-Apr-22 |
2 |
Austria 2021 |
Forced another driver off the track |
04-Jul-22 |
||
2 |
Austria 2021 |
Forced another driver off the track |
04-Jul-22 |
||
1 |
Italy 2021 |
I take advantage of leaving the track |
12-Sep-22 |
||
Yuki Tsunoda |
6 |
1 |
Emilia Romagna 2021 |
Failure to comply with track limits |
18-Apr-22 |
1 |
Styria 2021 |
Obstruction |
26-Jun-22 |
||
1 |
Austria 2021 |
Incorrect entry into the pit lane |
05-Jul-22 |
||
1 |
Austria 2021 |
Incorrect entry into the pit lane |
05-Jul-22 |
||
2 |
Brazil 2021 |
Accident |
14-Nov-22 |
||
Sebastian Vettel |
6 |
3 |
Bahrain 2021 |
Failure to slow down with double yellow flag |
27-Mar-22 |
2 |
Bahrain 2021 |
Accident |
28-Mar-22 |
||
1 |
Austria 2021 |
Obstruction |
03-Jul-22 |
||
Nicholas Latifi |
6 |
3 |
Azerbaijan 2021 |
Failure to enter the pit lane, as requested, during S.Car |
06-Jun-22 |
3 |
Austria 2021 |
Failure to slow down with double yellow flag |
04-Jul-22 |
||
Nikita Mazepin |
6 |
1 |
Portugal 2021 |
Failure to comply with blue flags |
2-May-22 |
1 |
Spain 2021 |
Obstruction |
8-May-22 |
||
3 |
Austria 2021 |
Failure to slow down with double yellow flag |
04-Jul-22 |
||
1 |
Italy 2021 |
Accident |
12-Sep-22 |
||
Lance Stroll |
5 |
1 |
Emilia Romagna 2021 |
Overtaking outside the limits of the track |
18-Apr-22 |
2 |
Hungary 2021 |
Accident |
01-Aug-22 |
||
2 |
Russia 2021 |
Accident |
26-Sep-22 |
||
Lando Norris |
5 |
3 |
Azerbaijan 2021 |
Failure to enter the pits with red flag |
05-Jun-22 |
2 |
Austria 2021 |
Forced another driver off the track |
04-Jul-22 |
||
Valtteri Bottas |
5 |
2 |
Styria 2021 |
Dangerous driving in the pit lane |
25-Jun-22 |
2 |
Hungary 2021 |
Accident |
01-Aug-22 |
||
1 |
Qatar 2021 |
Failure to slow down with yellow flag |
21-Nov-22 |
||
Max Verstappen |
4 |
2 |
Italy 2021 |
Accident |
12-Sep-22 |
2 |
Qatar 2021 |
Failure to slow down with double yellow flag |
21-Nov-22 |
||
Pierre Gasly |
3 |
1 |
Spain 2021 |
Car out of position at the start |
9-May-22 |
2 |
Turkey 2021 |
Accident |
10-Oct-22 |
||
Antonio Giovinazzi |
3 |
2 |
Austria 2021 |
Overtaking under the regime of S.Car |
04-Jul-22 |
1 |
Italy 2021 |
Dangerous return to the track |
12-Sep-22 |
||
Kimi Raikkonen |
2 |
2 |
Austria 2021 |
Accident |
04-Jul-22 |
Charles Leclerc |
2 |
2 |
Sakhir 2020 |
Accident |
06-Dec-21 |
Lewis Hamilton |
2 |
2 |
Great Britain 2021 |
Accident |
18-Jul-22 |
Fernando Alonso |
2 |
2 |
Turkey 2021 |
Accident |
10-Oct-22 |
Esteban Ocon |
1 |
1 |
Italy 2021 |
Lack of space for another car and collision |
12-Sep-22 |
George Russell |
1 |
1 |
Great Britain 2021 |
Accident |
17-Jul-22 |
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