Alex Albon collected the most penalty points of any driver during the 2020 season, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell close behind.
The system is designed to make sure drivers behave themselves on the track, and rules that once someone reaches 12 points over a 12-month period, then they receive a one-race ban.
Come the end of the 2020 season it was Red Bull’s Albon who unfortunately led the way with seven penalty points for the campaign.
A collision with Kevin Magnussen at Silverstone, pushing Romain Grosjean off the track at Monza, missing the bollard at Sochi and a Nurburgring incident with Daniil Kvyat did the damage for Albon.
In equal second place was Hamilton and his one-off stand-in at the Sakhir GP Russell.
Hamilton, who collected six points across the season, was actually very close to a race ban until the stewards decided to rescind the two points handed to the seven-time World Champion at the Russian Grand Prix for his practice starts in the pit exit.
Prior to that he had picked up four in the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix for failing to slow under yellow flags and later crashing into Albon.
The Briton moved on to six when he entered a closed pit lane during the Italian Grand Prix, with the resulting stop-go penalty costing Hamilton the race.
Hamilton has said already that he will cut out the penalties in 2021.
“With the FIA and with the stewards, I think there’s been a growth of respect between us and understanding,” Hamilton told RaceFans.
“I still don’t think those penalties were the necessary penalties. But it is what it is and it’s not my job to come up with what the penalties should be.
“I learnt a lesson from it and they won’t be able to catch me out for that again, that’s for sure.
“I’m just going to be very vigilant and diligent moving forwards. And not only as an athlete, I’m always trying to find an edge. I’m always trying to find that extra bit.
“It’s a fine line between being over the edge and beneath it. It’s fine if that one was over the edge. I learnt from it and it won’t happen again.”
