Written by Nathaniel French, Edited by Tarun Suresh
For the first time in twelve years, a driver has been banned from a Formula 1 race. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen’s collision with Pierre Gasly at the Italian Grand Prix saw him awarded two penalty points on his license, taking the number accumulated this year to twelve.
Under the regulations, twelve penalty points accrued in a calendar year result in a race ban, leaving Magnussen on the sidelines for the next round in Azerbaijan.
Magnussen is not the first driver to be banned from an F1 event though. Listed below are past examples of those who have been forced to sit out events, and the reasons why.
Romain Grosjean - 2012
Romain Grosjean’s 2012 season was full of incidents; he was involved in seven clashes in the first twelve rounds of the season. However, the multi-car crash at the start of the Spa round was caused by the Lotus driver saw him banned for the next round in Monza and fined €50,000.
Grosjean attempted to pass Lewis Hamilton into La Source, squeezing the McLaren aggressively to the inside wall and bordering grass. The Lotus’s rear right wheel clipped the front left of the McLaren, unsettling the latter and causing the two to collide.
Now out of control, the two then crashed into Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari and the two Saubers of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi. Pastor Maldonado in the Williams was also caught by Grosjean.
The shocking footage of Grosjean flying over the front of Alonso’s car and the sheer amount of damaged cars strewn across the run-off area, two of which were title contenders, prompted the stewards to place sole blame on the Frenchman.
Grosjean did accept the blame for the incident, though he stated in an interview that he had not intended to squeeze Hamilton. “I made a mistake and I misjudged the gap with Lewis. I was sure I was in front of him. So a small mistake made a big incident.
“I didn’t change my line, I went from left to right. I was not really wanting to put anyone in the wall - I’m not here to stop the race in the first corner. I’m very, very sorry and I’m glad that nobody is hurt.”
Jacques Villeneuve - 1997
1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve actually raced under a ban appeal at Suzuka.
During the first practice session, Jos Verstappen pulled over to the side of the track with a fuel pick-up issue. This brought out the yellow flags, meaning drivers would be required to slow in that section of the circuit. Despite this, several drivers, including Villeneuve, failed to slow.
Villeneuve would go on to claim pole position in qualifying, though would later be excluded from the session and prevented from racing for the earlier yellow flag infringement.
Unsurprisingly, Williams appealed the decision. Officials allowed the Canadian to both race and start from pole, albeit still under appeal. He would go on to finish the race in 5th.
In the weeks post-race, the FIA Court of Appeal met to discuss Villeneuve’s penalty. After reviewing footage of the alleged incident, the Court ruled in favour of the original decision to exclude the Williams driver, seeing him removed from the results entirely.
Eddie Irvine 1994
Over the course of the 1994 season, three drivers would be banned for various incidents. Eddie Irvine would be the first of the three to receive this punishment, causing a collision in the opening round of the year in Brazil.
Deep into the race, the midfield battle was heating up. On lap 36, Eddie Irvine, in his first full season at Jordan, moved left to lap the Ligier of Eric Bernard. However, Irvine had failed to notice debutante Jos Verstappen on his inside.
He forced Verstappen onto the grass, causing the Benetton driver to spin uncontrollably across the track, collecting Irvine and Bernard in the process.
The trio also managed to collide with Martin Brundle’s McLaren who was just ahead of this pack. On impact, Vertappen’s car flies over the rear of the McLaren, its rear wheel hitting Brundle’s head and splitting open the Brit’s helmet. Miraculously, Brundle walked away from the crash unscathed.
Initially, Irvine was fined €10,000 and awarded a one-race ban. Jordan appealed the ban but lost, subsequently increasing Irvine’s ban to three races.
Michael Schumacher 1994
The 1994 British Grand Prix was marred by a string of controversial incidents which culminated in future seven-time champion, Michael Schumacher, being banned from the next two races.
Schumacher overtook Pole sitter Damon Hill twice on the formation lap - once on the dummy grid and once further around the lap. David Coulthard stalled on the grid at the start, forcing another formation lap in which Schumacher once again overtook Hill twice.
Fourteen laps into the race, Schumacher was slapped with a 5-second stop-go penalty for his antics on the initial formation lap. However, he failed to serve the penalty by lap 21 and was shown a black flag as a result.
Things did not end here as Schumacher failed to acknowledge the flag. He was shown it for a further two laps though still failed to acknowledge it. Schumacher later stated that he had not seen the black flags, though there was some speculation and doubts surrounding this.
Meanwhile, Benetton was in discussion with the race officials after stating that there had been confusion over the initial 5-second penalty. After discussions, race officials withdrew the black flag and Schumacher finally served the penalty on lap 27.
Post-race, Benetton was fined €25,000 and gave Schumacher a severe reprimand for ignoring both the penalty and the black flag.
On the 26th of July, the FIA World Motorsport Council increased the fine to €500,000, banning Schumacher for the next two races and also disqualifying him from his second-place finish. Benetton appealed the decision, though the ban was upheld.
Mika Hakkinen 1994
Unbelievably, the same race which saw Michael Schumacher banned also saw his future title rival, Mika Hakkinen, awarded a one-race ban suspended for three races. A final lap shunt with Rubens Barrichello is the cause of said ban.
However, a race later in Hockenheim, Hakkinen would collide with David Coulthard’s Williams and spin across the track, collecting a handful of cars in the process. Eleven cars would retire at the end of that first lap, with ten being involved in crashes at the start of the race.
This incident would trigger Hakkinen’s probation, causing him to be banned for the subsequent race in Hungary. He would accept the ban and McLaren would not appeal the decision.
Nigel Mansell 1989
Nigel Mansel’s race ban came after the Brit’s astonishing mistake at the 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril.
Driving for Ferrari, he was leading the race comfortably when he entered the pits on lap 39. Mansell came screaming towards his pit box, locking his front wheels in the process.
Mechanics scrambled. Mansell managed to prevent sliding into his box, jinking left past his crew and overshooting. Chief mechanic Joan Villadelprat frantically waved for the Brit to take another tour of the circuit. Mansell chose to reverse instead.
After a disastrous 20 seconds in the pits, Mansell was a man on a mission. He charged right up to the rear wing of Senna on lap 45. The black flag came out a lap later. So fierce was this battle that neither Mansell nor Senna noticed.
This battle continued, until lap 49. On the run down to turn one, Mansell ducked out of Senna’s slipstream and was fully alongside the Brazilian through the corner.
Senna, seemingly unaware of the Ferrari’s position, took his usual wide entrance to slingshot out of the corner before cutting straight across Mansell, resulting in the two colliding. They would both be out of the race.
Mansell would state in interviews “I swear on the Bible I was so involved chasing Ayrton that I didn’t see the flag. And I swear that there was no radio communication that I was aware of.”
He would be fined €50,000 and banned from the next race for ignoring the black flag. Mansell threatened to retire should this ban be upheld, though the drama quickly subsided and the Brit was back in action soon after.
Riccardo Patrese 1978
Riccardo Patrese’s ban came after an incident during the 1978 Italian Grand Prix which saw the tragic death of fellow driver Ronnie Peterson.
Patrese had developed a reputation amongst the other drivers for being overly aggressive. This came to a head in Italy, as the Italian was blamed for a multi-car pile-up at the start of the race.
On the approach to Monza’s first chicane, Patrese’s Arrow car made contact with the McLaren of James Hunt, sending it into a spin. Peterson’s Lotus was collected and spun into the barriers on the right of the track headfirst. Vittorio Brambilla tried to avoid the accident, but was unable to and crashed into the stricken Peterson, causing the Lotus to burst into flames.
Peterson sustained significant injuries to his lower body — 27 fractures to his legs and feet - though these were not deemed to be life-threatening. Unfortunately, the Swede lost his life the following day after suffering from an embolism.
The Grand Prix Driver’s Association filed an injunction to ban Patrese from the next race at Watkins Glen which was quickly passed.
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