Formula 1 drivers are renowned as some of the most talented drivers in the world. But on occasion, emotions run high and the adrenaline pumps too hard, resulting in some regrettable moments on the track.
F1 drivers deserve some slack, given that the car they drive is capable of going over 200mph with only the brakes and heat in the tyres to stop them careering off the race track.
It also means they must have incredible fitness levels and high concentration, in addition to their talent behind the wheel.
However, when jostling for position, some drivers let their competitive streak rear its ugly head and perform dangerous manoeuvres in an attempt to get the jump on their rivals — sometimes with disastrous consequences.
F1’s current crop of drivers, including seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and 2021 title holder Max Verstappen, are generally well-behaved. They also have the benefit of being judged by a more lenient penalty points system.
Collect more than 12 across a 12-month period and they must serve a one-race ban, as Lando Norris nearly discovered last season before his record was wiped clean.
But the same cannot be said for these petrolheads who pushed the limit with their on-track antics, consequently picking up bans from racing…
Michael Schumacher
When people think of F1, their mind naturally turns to one of the greatest of all-time figures and Schumacher fits the description as the joint-most successful driver in the sport’s history.
But the German’s determined character moulded him into a fierce competitor, meaning he would often tread the line between right and wrong and end up on the wrong side of the law.
The former Ferrari star spent his early years with Bennetton and, at the British Grand Prix in 1994, he fell foul of F1’s technical regulations.
Schumacher served his time penalty after the allowed timeframe and was handed a black flag. Incredibly, he ignored the order to head back to the pits after his disqualification.
His team launched a protest against his two-race ban at the Belgian Grand Prix. Bizarrely, the German was also disqualified from the race at Spa Francorchamps too.
Romain Grosjean
No driver can say they had an F1 career quite like Romain Grosjean. Now driving in the IndyCar series, the 35-year-old is just grateful to be able to race after his scary moments inside the cockpit.
Grosjean had already lost his seat in F1 with Haas before his frightening 160mph accident at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, which left the Frenchman with severe burns to his hands that he is still recovering from.
That was not his only wince-inducing encounter, however, after his first major accident at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix.
Grosjean, driving for Lotus Renault at the time, was competing at the front of the grid with Hamilton and made contact with the Briton, causing a huge pile-up of cars behind him.
In an incident that appear to defy normal physics, Grosjean’s car lifted off the ground and flew across the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, somehow missing the two-time champion’s head by a fraction.
The FIA deemed that he was at fault and punished him with a one-race ban, having caused damage to Hamilton and Kamui Kobayashi’s cars.
Mika Hakkinen
Like Schumacher, McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen was disciplined by the FIA during the 1994 season for the kind of incident that saw the penalty points system introduced.
The Finn was handed a suspended ban for the next three races after clashing with the Brazilian Rubens Barichello for a run-of-the-mill collision during the British Grand Prix, although he still claimed a podium.
However, Hakkinen was forced to a miss a race after causing a more serious incident at Hockenheim, with several cars crashing and retiring from the race.
Because his previous ban was suspended and still active, his latest shunt triggered the ban to be enforced, meaning Hakkinen missed the Italian Grand Prix. Philippe Alliot was brought in to replace him for that race as Hakkinen sat out, and after the incident, he was never absent again due to suspension.
Felipe Massa
Along with Grosjean, Massa is the only other driver who has been made to sit out of a race due to a race suspension since the turn of the Millennium.
Massa, who raced for Sauber, Williams and Ferrari in his career, was best known for his 2008 heartbreak when Hamilton pipped him to the championship on the final lap,
Earlier in his career, the fiery Brazilian made his name for some memorable performances on the track. Alas, the 2002 Italian Grand Prix in Indianapolis was one he would rather forget. Massa was handed a 10-place grid penalty at the next race after causing a mass collision by running into Pedro De La Rosa at Monza.
But in a strange decision given that he was at fault, the FIA only applied the penalty to the driver — not the car. So his team at the time, Sauber, made the decision to remove Massa from the running and replace him with Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
That would protect Sauber’s position in the constructors’ championship as Frentzen was able to qualify for the race as normal without the penalty attached. The FIA learned from their mistake, however, ensuring that teams in the future could not repeat invoking the loophole.
Nigel Mansell
In terms of self-inflicted incidents, even the great Nigel Mansell is capable of making a catastrophic error.
The Briton, one of few drivers to compete for Williams, McLaren and Ferrari, is long retired after hanging up his racing gloves for good in 1995.
It was racing for the latter that he landed himself in trouble at the Portuguese Grand Prix in 1989. Mansell was black-flagged by the stewards after infamously locking up his brakes in the pits, forcing him to swerve around his team’s mechanics.
Despite being ordered to retire due to his disqualification, he carried on and subsequently had a collision with Ayrton Senna, causing both drivers to retire from the race.
Given the destructive and ignorant nature of his actions, Mansell was barred from participating in the next race in Jerez, Spain.
Eddie Irvine
The harsh lesson that Eddie Irvine learned in 1994 is that when the FIA hand out a punishment, drivers must not protest or appeal against the decision.
In the Irishman’s case, he was seemingly unaware that the sport’s governing body possessed the power to increase the ban. And that is exactly what happened when they adjudicated his case following a nasty crash with Jos Verstappen, father of current world champion Max, and Martin Brundle.
Racing for the Jordan team at the time, Irvine wiped out both Verstappen and Brundle, with the FIA handing him a one-race suspension.
His team appealed against the sentence, feeling they had a case for the punishment to be reduced and the $10,000 fine waived.
But the ban was extended to three races, forcing team principal to hand a drive to Aguri Suzuki and Andrea de Cesaris for the next three races.
