Verstappen beaten by Stroll and Kvyat in unwanted F1 list

Max Verstappen tops the list of F1 drivers with the most penalty points since they were introduced at the start of 2014, earning three more than Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll in that period.

Since making his F1 debut almost a decade ago, the Dutchman has accumulated 39 penalty points on his FIA super licence.

The issue of penalty points has come to the fore during 2024, with Magnussen surpassing the limit of 12 penalty points over a 12-month span, something that saw him banned for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in September.

There have been calls to revise and tighten up the rules surrounding which incidents incur such punishments - and how severe those penalties are.

The contentious nature of the Haas driver's final two points, which pushed him foul of the rules, at the Italian Grand Prix has done little to quell the growing discontent surrounding the application of the system.

After Magnussen's suspension, Fernando Alonso now leads the way with eight penalty points. Verstappen has seven, having racked up three over the Mexico City and Sao Paulo Grands Prix.

Fortunately for the Red Bull driver, the first two penalty points currently to his name are due to be expunged from his record in the coming days.

However, whilst he tops the overall list since the system was introduced, he is not the most prolific offender when points are measured by average number collected per season.

10 seasons into his career, the three-time F1 drivers' champion has accumulated an average of 3.9 per year, whereas Stroll's tally is more concentrated, as the Canadian has been punished at a clip of 4.5 per season over his eight years in F1.

If you were to further distill the numbers to penalty points accumulated per race, Stroll is superseded by Danill Kvyat, on account of the calendar being shorter when the Russian raced in F1.

Over his 112 grand prix entries, the former Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri and Red Bull driver averaged 0.23 per race weekend, meanwhile Stroll has averaged 0.21 across his 166 entries.

Check out the table below to see the overview of the number of penalty points since their introduction in 2014, and the points per season average*.

*Daniil Kvyat (2017) and Esteban Ocon (2016) have incomplete seasons considered.