Formula 1 driver could end up serving a suspension

Pierre Gasly leads all Formula 1 drivers with 10 penalty points, meaning two more could result in a one-race suspension. But that’s not the worst part about it.

Through the first 20 races on the 22-race 2022 Formula 1 calendar, 18 of 20 full-time drivers have at least one penalty point, though not all 18 have been handed those points during the 2022 season.

Penalty points, which are given to drivers by the FIA if the FIA determine that they have done something dangerous, remain on a driver’s license for 12 months before expiring. So a few drivers still have penalty points which they were handed last year.

But the driver who leads the field with 10 penalty points has been given all 10 of those points during the 2022 season. Given the fact that a one-race suspension awaits any driver who has been handed 12 penalty points, this could spell trouble.

That driver is AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, who is set to replace the Aston Martin-bound Fernando Alonso at Alpine next year.

Gasly was given two penalty points during the Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for a collision with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll back in May.

He was given two more penalty points during the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring for a collision with Stroll’s teammate, Sebastian Vettel, in July. He picked up an additional point in that race for leaving the track “without a justifiable reason” on multiple occasions.

Then came the month of October, which was an absolute nightmare for the 26-year-old Frenchman.

During the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit, he was given two more penalty points for speeding under red flag conditions. This incident generated massive attention because of the presence of the recovery tractor on the track at the time.

Then during the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, he was given two more penalty points for falling more than 10 car lengths behind during the Safety Car period.

Most recently, he was given an additional penalty point for leaving the track and gaining an advantage during the Mexico City Grand Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

The worst part about it? The first two of these 10 points don’t expire until Monday, May 22, 2023, meaning that Gasly will effectively need a squeaky-clean record to end the 2022 season (two more races) and to start the 2023 season (seven races before May 22) in order to avoid being suspended for a race.

Aside from Gasly, teammate Yuki Tsunoda leads all drivers with eight penalty points, though four of them are set to expire within the next month.