Hamilton has most penalties so far in 2011

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Hamilton received two of his four penalties in a single race

The F1 Fanatic statistics pages have been revised and expanded with the aim of producing the most comprehensive data on the 2011 season.

Among the new additions is a breakdown of all the penalties handed to drivers during 2011.

Lewis Hamilton has the most so far with four, two of which were handed down during the Monaco Grand Prix which led to his famous outburst afterwards.

He’s not the only driver to pick up two penalties in one race, however: Sergio Perez did likewise at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Of the 22 penalties handed down, six have gone to the two McLaren drivers.

Drive-through penalties remain the preferred punishment of the stewards, with time penalties taking their place if they are handed down late in the race.

Stop-go penalties were used instead at Silverstone due to the short length of the new pit lane. Sebastien Buemi is the only driver to receive a stop-go penalty at another track after breaking the pit lane speed limit by 20kph during the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Here are all the drivers who have received race penalties during 2011:

DriverTotalDrive-throughStop-goPost-raceTime added
Lewis Hamilton420240
Sergio Perez33000
Jenson Button22000
Pastor Maldonado22000
Paul di Resta22000
Rubens Barrichello11000
Adrian Sutil11000
Vitantonio Liuzzi11000
Jerome D’Ambrosio11000
Michael Schumacher10100
Kamui Kobayashi10100
Sebastien Buemi10100
Fernando Alonso100120
Narain Karthikeyan100120

Post-race: Time added after the race
Penalties not served were not counted

Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, Nick Heidfeld, Vitaly Petrov, Jaime Alguersuari, Heikki Kovalainen, Jarno Trulli, Timo Glock, Pedro de la Rosa, Daniel Ricciardo and Karun Chandhok have not served any race penalties in 2011.

An updated version of this table will be posted after every race here:

See here for information on qualifying penalties:

More 2011 F1 statistics

Season records

The season records page now includes data broken down by team as well as by driver:

Race information charts

All the lap charts, lap times charts, lists of pit stop times, tyre strategies and more information on every race so far this year can now be found via new single page:

You can find all this data and more via the top menu (2011 F1 Season > 2011 F1 statistics) here:

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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154 comments on “Hamilton has most penalties so far in 2011”

  1. Lewis’ penalty at Hungary was not necessary imo. I really felt for him in that race, he put a brave face on post-race but he deserved the win.

    1. Lewis’ penalty at Hungary was not necessary imo

      Yes, it was. The rules clearly state that a driver will receive a penalty if he forces another driver off the course. This clearly happened in Budapest – Paul di Resta was forced to drive off the circuit to avoid contact with Lewis Hamilton. What’s more, it was completely avoidable – if Hamilton had waited a few seconds before turning around, or turned around in the opposite direction, di Resta would not have needed to take evasive action and Hamilton would not have been penalised.

      When michael Schumacher forced Kamui Kobayashi off the circuit at Silverstone, there was no uproar or outrage or claims that the penalty was unneeded, so why is there outcry when Hamilton gets a penalty? Once again, people seem to think that Hamilton should be held to a different standard than everyone else.

      1. Warm bull. He was stopped and sideways in the middle of the track. What was he supposed to do, leave it there long enough for the engine to overheat and cause the car to break? That would have been a safety car at least!

        He was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. The whole penalty stinks and I call shenanigans.

        1. What, so sitting there for an extra second or two would cause his car to implode? Ok…

          It was just one of those things. He didn’t mean to force Di Resta off of the track, but in the heat of the moment he made a desicion that would get him back in the race as quickly as possible. As it happened, Di Resta had to take to the grass to avoid him. Not really anyone’s fault, but it was a contravention of the rules and was punished accordingly.

          He could have done all sorts of different things that wouldn’t have resulted in a penalty, but instinct and determination – two of the things that make Lewis such a great driver – meant he didn’t, and that’s that…

          1. Exactly. Regardless of whether or not you agree with the rule, it was broken and the driver should be punished accordingly. There was no malice from Lewis but it was a bit silly.

          2. No, I totally agree. I’ve actually become more of a Lewis fan over the past year and even I agree the punishment was justified. As soon as I saw him spin the car in front of DiResta, said aloud that that was bad form on his part. You simply do not re-enter in front of other drivers. It’s dangerous and not fair to them.

          3. DT you just summed it up nicely.

          4. Exactly, not meaning Hamilton is BAD, its a regular punishment for doing something you souldn’t do.
            A shame he did not see Di Resta and waited, but thats hindsight.

        2. The engine wouldn’t have overheated in such a short amount of time. Its a universal rule in all motor sports. You sit tight until the coast is clear before continuing.

          1. The reason being that if you are moving, it makes it very hard to dodge you due to the unpredictability. If you are sitting still, other drivers can plan their way around you much easier.

          2. Well apparently it’s the case for the Renaults (see Nick Heidfeld’s car disintegrating on stopping for a pitstop) … If they’re running the cars that close to tolerance, it’s more likely than you obviously think. Why else do they pack the radiators full of dry ice before a start?

          3. The exhaust system of the Renault contributed to that. Otherwise, cars do not usually implode when they stop (like when they sit on the grid).

          4. But Renault have explained multiple times already, that Heidfelds exhausts must have been cracked and smouldering even before he got into the pits.
            Staying put for a longer than planned period just gave it the final drop to catch fire.

        3. Furthermore, it’s much easier for other cars to avoid a stationary car than a car that’s moving, even if it is blocking some of the track.

        4. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t.

          No he wasn’t. He had ample time to recover without forcing another car off the track. He was careless.

          1. Thats a bit strong isnt it keith?

            Wouldve thought that you out of all people would appreciate that the view from your armchair & hindsight compared to that of sitting in the car with no idea who is coming around next (dont think the team were giving Lewis a running commentary and advice on coming traffic & when it was best to rejoin)- is very different.

            Not even the commentators were as scathing on Lewis as you.

            Its true…damned if he does and damned if he doesnt.

            ALSO…I think its a well known general fact that everyone is already aware that Lewis has the most penalties….didnt think it needed an article for it.

            I know you have critisized others in the past for their ott armchair expertise…but didnt think that you too would be apart of the armchair society who think racing an F1 car is just like the driving around on a daily commute.

            Let me guess…next you will probably blast Lewis for not switching on his hazard lights & waiting for a set of traffic lights to sprout out of the ground to allow him to do a three-point-turn.

            Lewis may have broken a rule BUT I applaud his hunger, drive and determination & wouldnt change that in him for anything.

            Also considering that Lewis has had the most penalties…..hes still in 3rd place and still beating his team mate who plays safe all the time.
            Once Lewis has reached the same milestones & levels of experience that his opponents have (alonso, button, webber, massa – have upto 7 years more experience than Lewis) – He will have fully formed into the next big F1 great….and a truely unbeatable force.

          2. have to disagree keith. I’m not exactly sure why you believe he had ample time to recover without forcing someone off track. He span back round asap, had he left it any later 3 drivers would have had to leave the track to get around him due to position he was in.

            For me, thats clearly a case of damned if he did and damned if he didn’t, and most certainly not a case of being careless.

          3. “Thats a bit strong isnt it keith?”

            I don’t think so; Lewis spun his car in the middle of the track just past the exit of a corner and could quite easily have caused a very serious crash that could have resulted in both him and Di Resta being seriously injured – and all because he didn’t want to wait for Di Resta to get past him safely before rejoining the race.

            “Its true…damned if he does and damned if he doesnt.”

            No; he’s damned if he makes stupid decisions that contravene the rules and risk other people’s lives and he would have lost a few seconds but would not have been criticised had he obeyed the rules and waited for Di Resta to pass him and for the track to be clear before he spun his car around.

            “ALSO…I think its a well known general fact that everyone is already aware that Lewis has the most penalties….didnt think it needed an article for it.”

            This isn’t an article about Lewis having the most penalties – it’s about the number of penalties that have been handed out this year and Lewis just happens to have had the most – I, for one, do not read this as a criticism of Lewis and I don’t think that is how Keith intended it to be read.

          4. Check the replay, he was further in De Resta’s path before he turnedit around than at the time when De Resta passed

          5. Doesn’t matter. Di Resta had no way of knowing the car that was spinning towards him was going to stop before cutting into his path.

          6. Lewis was careless in spinning his car around in front of (or near) other cars, you say, Keith? Well, if he hadn’t spun his car around, he would have stayed facing the wrong way, taking up most of the track, on a wet track with poor visibility and increased risk of the other cars’ aquaplaning into him. One could argue that Lewis would have been more careless to stay where he was. And careless for longer, the longer he stayed there! Once again, Lewis is hard done to.

            Again, the key point is consistency. If we are to take a strict interpretation of the rules, we must do so with respect to [i]all[/i] cars. If Lewis deserved a penalty for his mistake, what about Quick Nick and Renault being penalised, too? That only Lewis is punished, is not right; even if it were right that Lewis was punished.

          7. Obviously, I’m not saying he shouldn’t have turned his car around. I’m not even saying he shouldn’t have spin-turned it around.

            But given that he had another car heading straight towards him, the timing and manner of how he turned around was careless and he deserved his penalty.

          8. Laugh at “he had ample time to recover”.
            The time is ample only because you are not the one racing. This is a perfect example of people thinking they know better mucking up the sport. At best this was a racing incident no one suffered from his actions.

          9. At best this was a racing incident no one suffered from his actions.

            Paul di Resta did, which is why Hamilton correctly got a penalty.

        5. The whole penalty stinks and I call shenanigans.

          The rules clearly state that if you force another driver off the circuit, you will be penalised. Hamilton did just this – there was no way di Resta could have avoided him and stayed on the road.

          For some reason, people seem to think there is a conspiracy against Hamilton simply because he gets a lot of penalties. But in each and every case, there has been a precedent. The stewards even went out of their way to explain why Jenson Button did not get a penalty in Canada for the contact with Hamilton, which was supported by video evidence, and still people complained.

          People seem unwilling to accept the fact that Hamilton greatest strength is also a very-exposed achilles’ heel. He’s an aggressive driver, and will take any opportunity presented to him, which means he can move up the field in spectacular style. But he’ll also take any opportunity presented to him, even when there is no actual opportunity on offer. The end result is that he is more likely to be involved in on-track incidents, which is reflected in his results – how many times has Hamilton clashed with someone this year? Or in any year he has raced?

          But because Hamilton is fast and can win races, people seem to think there is a conspiracy against him just because he gets more penalties than anyone else when he really has nobody to blame but himself.

          1. If a driver is forced to run wide on the outside of the corner because the driver on the inside uses all the road, is that not a offence. See Hamilton/Webber and Alonso/Hamilton at the same corner in Hungary.

            Alonso was accused of being asleep because he didn’t run Hamilton off the road.

          2. Once again, rubbish. If a driver is stopped sideways in the middle of the track (a la Hamilton) then he’s going to get penalised under that exact same rule. If he doesn’t, then it’s another case of selective rule enforcement.

            F1 is filled with stupid rules that have ruined great races before. Take Nigel Mansell at Estoril, black flagged for moving backwards in the pit lane by a couple feet, black flagged again at the same track for his tyre coming off and the mechanics reattaching it in the outside pit lane. Utterly stupid.

          3. themagicofspeed (@)
            17th August 2011, 10:21

            i couldn’t have put it better myself – there is no conspiracy against lewis because the stewards have to be impartial, he is just a highly strung driver, who is fast, but, occasionaly makes some decisions that are questionable to say the least.

          4. “The rules clearly state that if you force another driver off the circuit, you will be penalised. Hamilton did just this – there was no way di Resta could have avoided him and stayed on the road.”

            di Resta would have been forced of the road if Hamilton had stayed put, there were less room before the maneuver.

          5. there were less room before the manoeuvre.

            You made the same argument in response to my earlier comment. It was wrong there and it’s wrong here for the reasons I explained above.

          6. For some reason, people seem to think there is a conspiracy against Hamilton simply because he gets a lot of penalties.

            I dont believe that theres a conspiracy, but just look at that then:

            Lewis:

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no3yv_hgdi8

            Do you remember Vettels overtake in Button in Australia this year?

            Whats the difference?

        6. they sit in the pitlane for longer. in monaco if they spin in the first turn, they let the whole field through, not do a burnout into the oncoming traffic. hamilton is lucky it wasnt at a track like monaco, where di resta would have hit him or the wall

        7. I’m of the view that Lewis has certainly had his share of unfair and unjustified penalties (and not by chance either), but Hungary was a slam dunk. He could have waited, he made a mistake, admitted as much and got a penalty that was deserved on safety grounds.

          This is basic in any kind of motorsport, as I know from years of karting. If you recover from a spin by forcing others to take emergency avoidance measures, you’re at fault. Simple.

        8. +1. DC saind something like “9 in 10 drivers would do exactly what Lewis did biut it doesn’t make it legal, however I wouldn’t penalise him”…

          But Lewis words just shows that his PR team has spent sometimes with him.

      2. I agree it was wrong for him to spin it round when he did. But he was on the racing line at the exit of a chicane, perpendicular to the track and on-coming traffic… I wouldn’t have wanted to stay there for very long either.

        But I do think he should have spun it the other way, towards the outside of the track, and more importantly – away from the racing line, where there was also ample amounts of tarmac run-off.

      3. I’d just like to point out the stout difference to the Kobayashi/Schumacher incident at Silverstone. Schumacher plowed into him and caused a crash, accidental? Of course, but he caused it non the less. On paper, yes, Hamilton forced another car off the track, but there was no crash, and the car forced off was a lap down. Lewis was in the lead on a strategy that reuired him to push like hell for the win. His penalty was harsh. Nothing bad came of his actions. Like I said Di Resta was a lap town, effectivley the rules ask that Lewis let him through only for Di Resta to get blue flagged at the next corner.

        1. Hamilton’s penalty was more appropriate than Schumacher’s. MS penalty was for a racing incident, one that was his fault certainly, but there were extenuating circumstances resulting from the track conditions, and it wasn’t as the result of a poor decision as much as a driving mistake. Hamilton’s on the other hand resulted from him ditching protocol. Even so, he still could have avoided a penalty if he had spun the car in the opposite direction taking him off the racing line, and away from oncoming traffic.

        2. the car forced off was a lap down. Lewis was in the lead on a strategy that reuired him to push like hell for the win.

          You’re basically saying the stewards should have applied the rules more leniently because Di Resta wasn’t on the lead lap and therefore, in your view, did not matter. That is utter nonsense and would be completely unfair.

        3. On paper, yes, Hamilton forced another car off the track, but there was no crash

          The FIA have dished out penalties for there being “no crash” before.

      4. I was personally crying out that Schumi’s penalty WAS unnecessary. That said, you can’t say the stewards were inconsistent in this case.

        1. Same here, but I also thought the penalty for Lewis was harsh at first.

          Until seeing the complete accident showing he spun around right into the track of the next few cars instead of going the other way.

      5. Oooooh……but Lewis is held to a different standard, because Spa in 2008 and Fuji in 2007 can attest to that.

        If Lewis was still in the running, and had made the same move on Alonso at the 2011 Canadian GP as Button……you truly cannot belive that Hamilton wouldn’t have been penalized, but Button…..nothing!

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnTQascHiz4

        1. I doubt it. Button had the inside line and Alonso turned across him.

      6. It’s true that he spun on the spot, but it was dangerous anyhow, I agree with you.

      7. Actually I think Di Resta could have easily driven by, the same as the Williams did when Hamilton was no closer to the racing line. I think Paul was simply being too attentive and therefore was not “forced”. Thus I agree that the penalty was undeserved, as have been other of his penalties and penalties in general.

        I think the stewards should just police things as jump-starts, speeding, crossing the pit exit line, maybe punching a marshal etc., but anything between two(or more) drivers is racing and should be sorted out between themselves, because this year the stewards have been giving way too much penalties for racing incidents.

        1. Letting the drivers sort it out themselves worked great in the past with Prost and Senna didn’t it!

          1. Exactly!!! :D
            Although you have to remember that the infamous incident was somewhat caused by the aggravation crated from the interference by the officials. So my point stands which ever way you look at it.

      8. To Prisoner Monkeys –

        That is just it: Lewis is often held to a different standard from everyone else. The rules are not applied consistently. Lewis, in particular, is punished for incidents that (sometimes) go against the letter of the rules and yet other drivers are not.

        Let us take Hungary, Quick Nick leaves his box on fire and then drives down the pit-lane with a car in flames and the car subsequently suffers small explosions, where pieces from the explosion could clearly be seen, on the replay, to strike a marshal: no penalty for Nick or Renault!

        But was this not an unsafe release, dangerous driving, or unsafe car given the exhaust configuration and the rather worrying explosions!? This is just one example of such inconsistency.

        The permanent race steward was a good idea; and, like most good ideas, the FIA has abandoned it.

    2. I dont agree. If he wasnt penalized, it would have set a precedence for other drivers and they would also have done the same thing. In the past, all other drivers waited for others to pass but Ham decided to do this his own way, thats breaking the rules.

      1. It was a 50:50 call. He did impede Di Resta, but maybe hard to see what else he could have done. He couldn’t wait – the whole field was coming through.

        1. Hamilton only had to wait for Button to go past, and then coast was clear.

          1. I tend to agree with the Hamilton penalty as was very dangerous. Would rather penalties were given for just this sort of thing rather than nearly every overtake that doesn’t work.

            Let them race!

          2. due to his position on the track, waiting would have caused all 3 following cars to go off track to avoid him

          3. But they seen the obstruction on the track and had plenty of time to avoid it. He spun right in front of Di Resta giving him only a split second to avoid him.

          4. But did he know that, how much can a driver really see to the side of the car.

            Maybe we need the BBC to give us a demo of how much the driver can actually turn his head and what he can see over the safety side wall of the cockpit.

            If a driver cannot see clearly, would you stay sitting there waiting to be t-boned by another car doing 100mph.

          5. Good point W-K. At the end of the day you can hardly blame him for not wanting to sit there!

          6. @ W-K

            I think the drivers are sensible enough not to T-bone a stationary car. If the car is stationary, then it is easy to avoid.

          7. @slr And haven’t we seen two car close together were the first car has managed to avoid obstacle but following car, because his vision was blocked by leading car, hit the obstacle.

        2. Tough. If you lose a position you are not obligated to get it back due to a silly mistake.

        3. The whole field :D :D
          There were only a handfull of cars coming by and he could see them because he just got past them 2 corners earlier. As opposed to what he said after the race, he didn’t know Paul would be behind him :)

          1. Even if it was the whole field, waiting til they all pass is exactly what you do. Anyone remember Webber’s spin from the front of the field in Silverstone 2008. He had no option but to sit there facing the wrong way until every single car had passed. For him to try to spin himself around would have been far too dangerous. This hamilton incident wasn’t alogether different and he too should have waited for oncoming traffic to clear.

    3. Deserved the win? Not sure about that. He made enough errors to irradicate any hope he had of winning even without the penalty. According to the BBC commentary he made his own calls during tyre stops and unfortunately he chose poorly that day. The donut into oncoming traffic was just wreckless. A penalty was innevitable.

      1. Agreed, if you watch the f1.com race edit the team tells him ‘box this lap if you want to.’ It was his choice and that mistake coupled with the spin and dangerous rejoin means that Button or Vettel deserved the win IMO

      2. Deserved the win? Not sure about that.

        Neither am I. Mistake in qualifying, mistake(s) in the race.

        1. This is a great arguement, partially because all of the Hamilton Defenders arguements (which are hilarious) and partially because this is the most pointless argument ever. Its obvious Hamilton forced di Resta off the track, and he deserved a penalty.

          I also like this article for other reasons, it has restored my love for this site. Not that thats really important to anyone, but Keith’s arguement along with the fact that this Article exists and the title reminds me why I loved this site in the first place.

  2. So, this tells us how many times and how much time did drivers have to take a penalty for, changing their race results.

    Maybe it would be good to ad information about penalties like the one for Heidfeld in Germany, before Buemi ended his race (Didn’t Hamilton also receive a penalty he did not end up serving in Canada), so we can look at the noughtiest drivers as well.

    1. Situations like Heidfeld’s in Germany strike me as rather odd. If a driver’s done something worth punishing, but then they are unable to serve the punishment given, surely they should be handed some other punishment – a grid drop, for instance?

      1. I believe Takuma Sato once received a grid drop, after he retired from the previous race before serving a penatly.

      2. I agree Keith.

        Letting Heidfeld’s penalty lapse would be understandable ONLY IF his penalty was designed to correct an unfair advantage he’d gained in that particular race… but it wasn’t! He was given the penalty for effectively dangerous driving (“causing an unavoidable collision”), so it is totally illogical that this isn’t carried over to the next race.

        Yet another case of the hopelessly inconsistent and ill-thought-out FIA regulations.

        1. I also agree with Keith on this one.

      3. I tend to agree with that.

  3. It would be worth showing the number of overtakes each driver has made this season as well. Probably also how many times they’ve been overtaken.

    I remember earlier in the season, seeing some stats showing Hamilton had made 10% of all the overtakes so far, which would mean he’s more likely to get involved in incidents and therefore penalties.

    Someone like Vettel who’s leading from the front and not needing to overtake anyone is therefore much less likely to get a penalty

    1. The problem with this is the difficulty in getting reliable data. Lap times and TV pictures alone won’t show a lot of passes (especially this year), you need the GPS data from the cars.

      1. Keith…..anychance in asking Sean Kelly?
        ..after all he is one of the great stats-men and probably has something already put together?

        It would also be great to have a stat on overtakes completed outside the DRS zones and who the drivers are (no doubt Hamilton is probably leading in that stat as well).

        1. I think someone like Heidfeld may be leading that one actually. He’s started well down the field a lot of times and climbed up quite a lot on several occasions

        1. I’ve seen those but I don’t know anything about how they were calculated.

          1. Here’s another interesting stat to note: Lewis currently has the record for the most penalties in one season (5 in 2008); can he [i]better[/i] that in 2011? I certainly hope so: let’s keep it at four!

  4. The argument surrounding lewis’ manouver was that from the cockpit his line did not allow him to see the oncoming car. Was he supposed to wait till all 24 cars had driven past to resume the race? Diresta did drive off to avoid a collision but he didnt crash nor was his race ruined because of the incident.
    Technically Jenson drove lewis off the road when Lewis was overtaking him a few races back. That penalty was just harsh!!

    1. And from the footage it was obvious he could see the oncoming traffic unless he is legally blind on one eye. The penalty is given because he has created a dangerous situation – imagine Schumacher trying to spin in Abu Dhabi last year after his spin. Even Hamilton admitted he was wrong, rules are very clear and they aren’t determined by “lets wait and see did that move ruin a race for somebody”

    2. Talking about Canada? Lewis was going for a gap that was never going to be there by the time he arrived. It was poor judgement from Lewis, he should’ve gone to the right. If you watch the in car footage from Lewis’s car he gets his left wheels up on the wet grass alongside the pit wall, that will always end in tears because the left hand rear wheel spins suddenly faster than the right which causes the diff to think it’s going round a right hand bend which has the effect of slowing the right rear down. The car innevitably spears clockwise which is why Hamilton’s left rear hit the pitwall and is front right corner hit Jenson’s car. Bottom line he shouldn’t have been taking to the grass in those conditions. Especially not in such close company with his team mate.

      1. Definately, just watching it on TV you could see that was always going to happen.

      2. If you watch the in car footage I believe you see Hamilton get his car about half way alongside Button, in a gap big enough for more than the width of his car. Hamilton, as a racer going for an overtake, was right to presume that he would be seen and not have the other driver continue moving across. Was he not allowed to overtake until Button lifted a hand to recognise his presence? He went for a gap, that due to the spray, Button wrongly continued to close, and as it continued to close Hamilton’s front tyres got locked in front of Button’s rears, meaning he couldn’t escape by braking and thus only had Button and the wall to hit. He didn’t take to the grass to overtake, he went there because he was already trapped in.

        1. I’d like to add that I am primarily a fan of Button, and although I love Hamilton too, his over-aggression can be very aggravating. This though, was not an example of his over-aggression.

        2. Having just watched it back on youtube, Hamilton’s rear wheels were level, not in front of Button’s rears at the point when there was still a reasonable amount of room. Button then continues to come across, and Lewis is forced to take to the grass and wall.

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUGY54ZxGD8

          I stand by that he went for a gap which was fair. If it had been dry Button would (or should) have seen him and not continued pulling across, but there was spray and he didn’t know.

          1. Wet or dry, Jenson was taking the racing line and would have done whatever the weather. Lewis chose a silly place to overtake and if it had been dry he may have pulled the move off on the grass up the outside of Button. However, that may have attracted a penalty by gaining an advantage by going off the track.

            It’s an unfortuate characteristic of the racing line on that part of the track. They drift left all they way along it and then it has an elbow just as they go over the Start line as they then head out right to take turn 1. The door was always going to close, that’s what you do when you’re defending. Hamilton should have known that. JB or anybody else for that matter wouldn’t just relinquish the ideal line into turn one just because Lewis was willing to throw caution to the wind and the result was what we saw, another LH Mclaren with bits missing.

            It was a real shame because as things turned out they’d have had a 1 2 that day.

    3. “Was he supposed to wait till all 24 cars had driven past to resume the race?” If that was needed to rejoin the race safely, then yes that is what he should have done. He spun out by him self, so its his problem.
      If a driver crashes out on the first lap they shouldn’t stop the race and wait for his team to build a new car for him so he can try again, because some might feel sorry for him should they?

  5. Interesting tidbit from this information, Mark Webber has had the most overtakes of anyone this season and 0 penalties.

    Overtaking master?

    1. In China he started behind a lot of slow, easily passable cars.

    2. Qualifying badly master?

      1. He’s started on pole twice.

  6. Ah Lewis. If only we had a Fantasy League for penalties.. you would be my No.1 choice :)

    1. That should be a category in the predictions championship, “Who will have the most penalties”!

      1. He’s just too reckless at times.

    2. LOL, you can really depend on him winning that one as much as you can on Vettel to produce pole to flag victories lately!

  7. im sure jenson has had a stop and go this year?

    Surprised they are no red bulls on there.

    1. Where was Button’s, I don’t recall that.

      1. Canada! speeding under safety car and not keeping to the delta time i believe. Funny that, he went on to win!

        1. actually, scrap that. That was a drive through

  8. Maldonado having two pit lane speed penalties is fairly embarrassing!

    1. Hey, Sebastian Vettel got one in his first race, Indy 2007. In fact, he got it just six seconds after the pit lane opened for the first practice session. That’s right, six seconds into his Formula 1 career and he was penalised.

      1. It wasn’t at Indy 2007, it was the first race where he drove in free practice, I think Turkey 2006.
        besides that you are right, one more record for him ;)

        1. It was the US GP in 2007.

      2. True, and Badoer did have many at Valencia practice – but I can forgive it in practice, but not in the race, twice!

  9. Lucky (ahem) thing for Lewis his Canadian GP was as short as it was, or his lead might have been even bigger :D

  10. Jacques Villeneuve said a while ago that drivers should only be penalized if they do something stupid and dangerous. I agree with this as the penalties on overtaking have got a bit extreme. We want excitement and aggression and the FIA are trying to penalize it.

    The argument about having the penalties on overtaking for safety doesn’t really add up when you consider the last fatality was nearly 20 years ago and was because of a car failure. Any of the very rare injuries in F1 are never the result of overtaking but some sort of car failure. Massa 2 years ago, Schumacher in Silverstone 10 years ago etc.

    1. JV is saying quite a lot recently. On this case, I do think there are too many things currently being penalized.

      I would like to have a thought about maybe factoring in what someone won by it as well, like they try to do at Indy (hard to do, it might lead to loads of protest) and stop punishing someone for just ruining his own wings and chances for the race.
      But it seems the drivers are really keen to see things like that punished “to learn them a lesson to be more carefull in the future”

      1. ya, agree with your point. A balanced view off what they gain or loose out of the maneuver should be taken into account. Fed up of seeing a driver attempt something, coming off worse and having to pit for damage, then they go and slap a penalty on top of that.

        I’m just afraid they will eventually make it were the only overtakes happening are really safe artificial DRS overtakes.

  11. I must say I think Lewis gets a bit of a hard deal, not only in terms of the Penalties he receives, but also in terms of the penalties others don’t when Lewis is involved.

    For example, in Germany, Buemi was given a 5 place grid penalty because he moved across on Heidfeld when he didn’t see him, yet when Button does effectively the same the Lewis in Canada, not only did he not receive a penalty, but a lot of people gave the majority of the blame to Lewis.

    Then again in Hungary, when Lewis went to the outside of Vettel into turn to, Vettel moved over so Lewis had to put 2 wheels on the grass and back right off. Again, not even a mention of anything wrong.

    Finally, we can also look back to last year with Hamilton and Webber in Aus and Singapore. Again, no penalties for Mark, despite ruining Lewis’ race on both occasions and together ruining his championship. In fact, again for singapore, Lewis was given a lot of the blame, which still baffles me to this day.

    1. Well said Jake

    2. In you first example, those were two rather different things. Button was following the racing line in Canada, whereas Buemi was moving away from it in Germany.

      Can’t recall the incident in Hungary, though.

      1. No he wasnt. Buemi didnt see Heidfeld. So he took the racing line into the last chicane which gave Nick no room on the outside.

        Same as Jenson & Lewis in Canada. JB didnt see Lewis so took the racing line. IMO both not worth a pen. But Buemi got one which was just hard to justify.

        Very interesting Jake and i do agree, Lewis is at times hard done by. But if you are such an aggressive driver like he is then there is going to be times where sometimes he will get penalised.

        I must say though, im a big Lewis fan and the majority even if not a fan would say we love the way he drives and he is fantastic to watch.

      2. The argument that Hamilton had had a terrible race and that the collision with Button was evidence was quite frankly ridiculous. The racing line shouldn’t make a difference there. After all, although it seems convention to run to the left of the track it is hardly a corner, merely a kink, and you would only lose a little time staying in the middle of the track. If there is a car alongside you it is generally not a good idea to turn in. If it was a tight corner and Hamilton had dived into the gap on the inside, Button would not be allowed to simply drive into him because he was heading for direction of the apex. Button didn’t get a penalty because he couldn’t see through the spray, not because Lewis was at fault for legitimately pulling alongside another car. A lot of people seemed to blame Hamilton for putting his car in a gap.

        Although I think Button deserved that win, I am a little surprised he evaded a penalty. I suppose giving one might have been harsh, but then he should have been aware that he got a poor exit from the previous corner and that Hamilton would be trying to pass. Saying that ‘Button couldn’t see Hamilton’ wasn’t seen as a legitimate defence when it involved Hamilton and di Resta in Hungary after all.

        1. Let’s not forget Button also punted Alonso out in the very same race.

        2. The racing line is the optimum route around the lap. The lead car is entitled to occupy that racing line and make one move to defend it when under attack. Hamilton arrived behind Button with such overspeed that he couldv’e safely had a go down the ouside of turn one but a lack of circumspection led Hamilton to take an unecessary risk. He obviously wanted the inside line into turn one, but any racing driver worth his salt knows the basic rule when under attack is to make the attacker go down the outside through judicous car positioning. As a seasoned professsional, Hamilton knows that this is precisely what Jenson was going to do as he would have done the seld same thing. Therefore, he should have chosen discretion as the better part of valour and gone around the outside and lived to fight another day. Hamilton’s mitake, end of!!

    3. The buemi button comparison should be highlighted to the FIA. There still is no consistency IMHO. They both don’t see the car behind, move to the racing line and receive different outcomes.

    4. On point.

      The whole world said Lewis was over optimistic in Singapore… in football we see people asking refs to protect good players is F1 we have the other way around..

  12. The title is a bit sensationalist but I guess anything goes that attracts traffic. We ARE talking about a grand total of four (4) penalties.

    1. No it’s not. It’s a fact.

    2. the title just states a fact that Hamilton has received more penalties than anyone else this year. Hardly sensationalist.

      1. “Hamilton 4 Times Dirtier Driver Than Schumi”

        Now that’s sensational yet still fact in a way!

        1. “Hamilton most likely to kill in F1”
          “Hamilton will crash and die before season end”

          We could go on all day.

          1. knock on wood

          2. Snowman and Andrew, you had me laughing! :D

  13. It looks like Hamilton holds the record for the most penalties in a season, with 5 penalties in 2008. Will he break his own record this year? :p

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Formula_One_driver_records#Other_driver_records (press ctrl and f and type in “penalties”)

    1. Even if he doesn’t win the championship, at least he’ll have broken a record! :p

  14. At least he’s been out of the stewards office recently!

    1. I heard they just text him the penalties now.

      1. I heard he assumes he has a penalty, unless told otherwise.

        1. Cacarella Bueno
          17th August 2011, 4:11

          well done!

          1. If he was in the England football team, we’d never lose to Germany again! :)

  15. Keith, it may also be interesting to see which drivers have been under investigation the most?

    1. Yeah, because being a suspect in a crime is as good as being convicted of it.

      1. I smell a black vs white debate opening up..

    2. I fear the result for Lewis may be very much the same!

  16. My mind has been absolutely blown by the people on here arguing that Hamilton did not deserve a penalty for making Di Resta go off track.

    Hamilton even admitted he was wrong and he apologized to Di Resta.

  17. Hamilton is so exciting to watch because as well as his supreme car handling skills, he has wonderful racing instinct. This means he sees and often makes moves that others would not see or attempt. Like you drive your car, this instinct is largely a series of subconscious decisions. In other words you do what immediately comes to mind giving you those fractions of a second advantage over your competition. Other drivers, race less on instinct and more on conscious calculation. Whilst this may be more immediately disadvantageous, you are far less likely to get into trouble and it increases your ability to manage longer term issues.

    When he spun at Hungary, Lewis could have done what he did or spin the other way away from the racing line and rejoin or wait until a clear gap appeared and then rejoined. I’d be willing to bet that what passed through his mind as he spun was “****! After him….”, that the only conscious planning was identifying the quickest way back into the race and not the safest.

    The fact that Di Resta and Hamilton didn’t crash was entirely due to Di Resta’s ability to take evasive action. Hamilton did nothing that reduced the chances of a collision. The penalty was given because drivers need to factor in safety as well as speed into their choices and that requires conscious thought. In Keith’s words – he was careless.

    1. It’s ironic that you talk about his “supreme car handling” skills while discussing an incident where he spun off. Granted, he is excellent with the car, and I agree 100% with the second 2 paragraphs in your comment, I don’t think that the issue with his penalties comes down to “supreme” skills and instinct. I think it has more to do with aggression and potentially a sort of self serving attitude – it’s similar to being careless, only it’s more intentional than it is mindless. I am not saying that he tried to make Di Resta crash, but what I am saying (and you sort of said it too with the ****! After him…. statement) is that in that moment on the track, his decision making was flawed, not necessarily by mindless carelessness, but by a carelessness born out of ego that told him to just go no matter what.

  18. F1 is so political and nanny-state nowadays. Hamilton just seems to be the guy the stewards target, no matter what on-track event occurs. I bet if it was Lewis who tangled with Alonso like Button did and took him out, the stewards would have slapped him with a penalty.
    The guy can’t win, aggressive but fair driving, if the opposing driver doesn’t react in a sensible way, the hey-ho! Lewis is penalised.
    It’s pathetic, these guys would rather stay behind another car and calculate machinations in their heads and beat the other guys in the pits, and we call that ‘racing’.
    The true form of racing, the actual spirit of racing, is reflected in guys like Lewis and Kobayashi and maybe Webber. Most of the other guys cry if someone touches their car.

    1. Most notably so in Monaco, Massa. the moving chicane, chose the same damn path through the hairpin for 5-6 laps in a row, then when Hamilton dives in, Massa suddenly decides to use the space on the track which he hasn’t touched once in the entire race.

      Try for the next race to count the number of times drivers are in that exact position, inside another driver by 2/3 on the race path, particular during the start laps it is ALL THE TIME, except only some then decides to make a crash of it and turn into the attacker…

  19. Is this still going on?!

    What’s done is done.

    F1 isn’t touring cars.

    Move on!

  20. Keith, what is the record for number of penalties in a season by a driver? Can lewis beat that? :)

    1. Hamilton to beat his own record from 2008? :P

  21. The Stewards haven’t imposed any penalty for blocking or impeding another competitor in qualifying for a while now. In fact I can’t remember when or who the last one was awarded to.
    Do we think that the drivers (and teams on the radio) have got more careful of each other, or have the Stewards become less exacting?

    1. I think both is true.

  22. Budapest and Monaco = Alan McNish

    All three penalties, or at least Massa/Monaco and Budapest is discussable.

  23. Keith, do you have data form 2010 on penalties? It would be interesting to see which drivers had a greater number of penalties, or less penalties in 2011.

  24. Keith,

    Can’t comment back above, but anyways, I can follow you in that even though Lewis spin didn’t him further into di Resta’s path, then when look squarely at it then probably it wasn’t safe, OTOH stewards could have let it go.

    And that is the problem, if you look squarely at it then how many times past few season have we seen cars side by side down the pit lane? That’s without discussion, an unsafe release every single time yet not all get penalized, how many times have we seen cars dive into other cars racing line in the first corner? Thats causing a collision every single time (except that the opponents may elect not to take the collision unlike Massa).

    There’s just no denying that while LH’s style may be more penalty prone, he is also getting shafted again and again, and if the entire field got penalized like he does then there would be no room for racing left, it would be 2 hours of “Convoy” every fortnight.

  25. I sometimes amazed by the negative and biased comments on here. The penalty handed to lewis was definitely harsh. Yes, rules are there to be obeyed but each case has to be judged on its on merit, based on circumstances rather than a blanket and blind application of the rules. Some armchair experts think it would have been easy for Lewis to sit in the car and wait for a good time to spin the car round. What they fail to consider is the position of lewis car and whether on coming drivers will spot him in time. Just look back at Bahrain when Schumacher, after spinning almost got killed by Luizzi
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EurtbKOniA

    Just look at the angle of schumacher’s car and compare that to Lewis onboard view.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHt_wgbtuqw

    His car was almost perpendicular to the track and anything at all could have happened. F1 drivers have to consider not only the safety of other drivers but their own safety. These guys have seconds to decide and act and we sit here for hours yet draw the wrong conclusions.

    How many times have we seen similar incidents being given different penalties?

    Enough said!

    1. If you accept that Hamilton was in a dangerous situation in the first place then by that reasoning he put di Resta in more danger by spinning his car into his path.

      It comes back to the fact that a driver has more chance of being able to avoid a stationary car than one that is spinning towards him. That’s why Hamilton was in the wrong.

      1. I disagree Keith!. By that reasonining, he was trying to remove himself out of the dangerous position which is potentially dangerous for other drivers. It just happens that his spin force di Resta off the track. Schumacher did nothing (the opposite of Hamilton) and still put himself and Luizzi in harms way. This is why i think the rules should be applied on a case by case by rather than a blanket approach of its either black or white. There is a grey area you know!

        1. he was trying to remove himself out of the dangerous position which is potentially dangerous for other drivers

          And through doing so created a more dangerous situation which forced another driver to take avoiding action he would not otherwise have taken, hence the penalty.

          1. hahahaha the stewards might as well introduce different penalties for dangerous as well as more dangerous situations created by drivers.

  26. A41202813@GMAIL.COM (@)
    19th August 2011, 4:03

    The More Penalties The Better.

    It Just Means He Is Doing His Job, Unlike The Vast Majority Of The Slow Train Competition.

    I Bet The Last German GrandPrix Brought More Fans To The Sport Than Any Other Race In Many Many Years.

    Go, HAMILTON !

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