Logan Sargent and Lance Stroll are just a few points away from an automatic one-start ban from Formula 1 after the Chinese Grand Prix. If a driver accumulates 12 penalty points within a calendar year, it disqualifies him from one race. So far, no one has amassed such an “asset” since the rule was introduced a decade ago.
Sargent is currently closest to accumulating 12 penalty points. After the Chinese Grand Prix, he has 8
The latter 2 were part of a penalty that included 10 seconds for the American driver passing Nico Hulkenberg under a safety car on the track. Such passing saw Daniel Ricciardo move three places back on the grid for the next round of the world championship, which will be held in Miami.
At Sargent, the penalty points are determined in September. This means that the Williams driver must be particularly careful in the races over the next four months. The other Grand Prix driver with 8 penalty points on his super license at the moment is Sergio Perez. The Red Bull driver reached them after being penalized in Saudi Arabia for a dangerous exit in front of Fernando Alonso. The Spanish pilot of Aston Martin has half of the “assets”, leading to an automatic ban from participating in the start. Alonso has 6 penalty points. The latter two were part of the sanction imposed on him in China for the incident with Carlos Sainz during the sprint there.
Lance Stroll was sanctioned in China for the situation in which he torpedoed Daniel Ricciardo
He already has 7 penalty points and will have to be more careful on the tracks until July. Stroll was unhappy with the punishment imposed on him in Shanghai. During the race itself, he called Ricciardo an “idiot”, which infuriated the Australian. Subsequently, he described what happened as a “stupid accident” and explained that he crashed into the Visa RB car because everyone in front of him stopped suddenly.
“That’s right, but everyone else didn’t repel each other,” Oscar Piastri quipped.
“Someone up front stopped, I don’t know who,” Stroll pointed out.
In fact, his teammate Fernando Alonso blocked the wheels.
“After that, everyone stopped. The car in front of me went from 60 to 0 so it was a really stupid accident. In my opinion, the penalty is because of the hit. But someone ahead stopped and caused the domino effect. It’s not like the situation was normal and I just bumped into him. Bad luck,” added the Canadian.
Aston Martin F1 boss Mike Krak said stewards have been particularly tough on Alonso and Stroll recently
“This past weekend was no exception. There was a penalty for the sprint, there was in Melbourne, for Lance – they condemned him very quickly without really understanding the situation. In my view, this extremely quick decision led to a very, very harsh penalty. A chain reaction ensued. You saw Fernando lock the wheels. It would have been nice if they had looked into things a little more. “We tried to discuss it, but they decided very quickly that it was Lance’s fault,” Krak said.
