Types of penalties

The stewards have a range of penalties to choose from, and which one they use depends on how serious the offence was and when it happened. A small mistake in a race usually earns a time penalty. Something dangerous can mean a stop in the pits, a drop down the grid at the next race, or worse.

#The penalties at a glance

The stewards can also add penalty points to a driver's licence alongside most of these. Reprimands and fines never carry penalty points.

#Time penalties: 5 and 10 seconds

These are the most common penalties in a race. When a driver gets one, they serve it at their next pit stop. The car pulls into the box and the mechanics have to stand back until the 5 or 10 seconds are up. Only then can they change the tyres. If anyone touches the car early, even with a hand, the team gets a further penalty.

A driver doesn't have to pit just to serve the penalty. If they make no more stops before the end, the 5 or 10 seconds are simply added to their race time. This is why you often hear that a driver "has a five-second penalty, so they need to be five seconds clear" of the car behind at the flag.

There are two exceptions. A driver doesn't serve the penalty if they only enter the pit lane because the safety car is being led through it, or when cars come into the pits after a red flag. But if they choose to stop for tyres under a safety car or virtual safety car, the penalty must be served at that stop.

#Drive-through and stop-go penalties

These are more serious, because they cost a driver far more time: typically 20 seconds or more for a drive-through, depending on the length of the pit lane, and more again for a stop-go.

Once the team is told about the penalty, the driver can cross the finish line no more than twice before they must come into the pits to serve it. They can't serve it while the safety car or virtual safety car is out, unless they were already in the pit lane. If it's given in the last three laps of the race, or after the race, it's turned into time instead: 20 seconds for a drive-through and 30 seconds for a stop-go.

During a stop-go, the car can't be worked on at all. If the engine stalls and the driver can't restart it, the mechanics have to wait until the 10 seconds are up before helping.

#Grid penalties

A grid penalty moves a driver back a set number of places at the next race (or the next sprint, if the offence happened in sprint qualifying). Offences in practice and qualifying usually get grid penalties, because there's no race time to add seconds to.

Drivers also get grid penalties for using more power unit parts than the season allows. These are automatic and aren't decided by judging anyone's driving. The grid penalties page explains how they stack up and what happens when several drivers have them at once.

If a driver gets a drive-through or stop-go but retires before serving it, the stewards can turn it into a grid penalty for the next race. They usually won't do that for a single 5-second penalty.

#Reprimands

A reprimand is a formal warning. On its own it has no effect on the result. But they add up: a driver who collects five reprimands in a season, at least four of them for driving offences, gets a 10-place grid penalty. If the fifth one comes during a race, the grid penalty applies at the next event.

Reprimands are common for things like impeding someone in practice, or small procedural mistakes such as missing a call to the weighbridge. Because at least four of the five have to be for driving offences, a run of minor admin slips on its own won't trigger the grid penalty.

#Fines

Fines are usually aimed at teams rather than drivers. Pit lane speeding in practice or qualifying is a classic one: the team pays €100 for every km/h over the limit, up to €1,000. Teams are also fined for things like releasing a car unsafely in practice.

Drivers can be fined too, mainly for breaking safety equipment rules or for misconduct such as swearing in a press conference. See driver conduct and fines.

#Disqualification and suspension

Disqualification removes a driver from the results. In F1 it most often happens for technical reasons after the race, such as an underweight car or a worn plank. See disqualification.

Suspension means missing the next race weekend. It's very rare. It happens automatically when a driver reaches 12 penalty points, and the stewards can also give it directly for extremely dangerous driving. Romain Grosjean was banned for one race after causing a huge first-corner crash at Spa in 2012.

#How serious offences are scaled

The FIA's penalty guidelines give the stewards a starting point for most offences. A few examples from the race section:

Deliberate or reckless driving sits right at the top: a stop-go or more than 30 seconds in a race, and in extreme cases disqualification or a ban.