During a Formula 1 race, stewards can hand out all manner of punishments to drivers that breach the regulations. Time penalties, fines and reprimands are often dished out for incidents like causing a collision or speeding in the pitlane, but the stewards can also issue drivers with penalty points that accrue on their superlicence.
The penalty points system was brought in as a way of monitoring the behaviour of F1 drivers over the course of a season. When drivers are penalised with penalty points, they’re monitored through their superlicence and if a racer picks up 12 or more in the space of a 12-month period then they are handed a one-race ban.
