Before Magnussen: The Last Five Drivers To Be Banned From a Grand Prix Weekend

The dreaded 12 points. Reaching this point threshold means you have to watch the action from somewhere that isn’t near a racing car.

Kevin Magnussen will be away from the cockpit when Formula 1 returns for next weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku. The Danish veteran picked up two points on his superlicence at last Sunday’s Italian GP after an incident with Pierre Gasly at the Roggia on his way to finishing tenth, his first points since July’s Austrian GP.

It brought his total to 12, securing his race ban. Haas has decided to parachute their future racer, Oliver Bearman, for the Baku weekend. It will be the Brit’s second F1 race weekend of 2024 after he substituted for Carlos Sainz at March’s Saudi Arabian GP.

But why was Magnussen banned, and which other drivers were told by the stewards to take a time out?

Why was Magnussen banned?

Kevin Magnussen walks the pits at Monza

Photo: LAT Images

Magnussen first drew the stewards’ ire in March’s Saudi Arabian GP, where he played the team game by becoming a rear gunner for teammate Nico Hulkenberg, helping him score a point with tenth.

But it was his collision with Alex Albon that drew the most attention. He cut off the Thai driver on the exit of Turn 4, damaging his front wing and earning him a 10-second time penalty. Magnussen received three penalty points for the incident.

In China, Magnussen was in the wars again, giving Yuki Tsunoda a lovetap at Turn 6, sending him into a spin and retirement, and earning the Dane two more penalty points.

However, the race in which the Dane accumulated most of the penalty points was Miami, with two separate incidents. He earned three points in the Sprint for going off the track multiple times during his hard battle with Lewis Hamilton. Then he took his tally up to 10 in the race by colliding with Logan Sargeant, putting the American out.

Monaco looked to have sealed his fate after playing a major part in a three-car pile-up that took himself, Hulkenberg, and Sergio Perez out of the race on the run-up to Massenet. Surprisingly, the stewards deemed it a racing incident, and Magnussen lived to fight another day.

The incident at Monza, in which Magnussen and Gasly collided, was relatively mundane, as both cars finished the race. He finished ninth on the road before his 10-second penalty dropped him to tenth.

In addition, the Dane was given two penalty points for his role in the incident and will now be banned from the Azerbaijan weekend.


Romain Grosjean – 2012

Romain Grosjean pushes on a fast lap

Photo: Nic Redhead/Wikimedia Commons


Reason for ban: Causing a multi-car crash at the Belgian GP

Replacement/Race banned: Jerome D’Ambrosio/Italian GP

After a brief stint as a Renault driver in 2009, Romain Grosjean returned to F1 in 2012, fresh from winning the GP2 series with DAMS.

The Frenchman, who partnered former world champion Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus, showed he had the pace to go toe-to-toe with the best, finishing on the podium three times in the first half of the year. He could have also won the 2012 European GP at Valencia if an alternator failure hadn’t taken him out of the running.

However, all that good work was thrown away at the Belgian GP. Starting from the eighth, Grosjean squeezed Hamilton on the run down to Eau Rouge, causing the pair to bang wheels and the Brit to hit the Lotus’ rear wing. Now a passenger, the Frenchman flew over Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari and Sergio Perez’s Sauber, creating a four-car pile-up. Thankfully, no one was injured.

The stewards threw the book at Grosjean, bestowing with a one-race ban for the Italian GP and a €50,000 fine. Belgian Jerome D’Ambrosio replaced him for the weekend, finishing 13th in his only race outing for the team.

Although he was never quite able to lose his reputation as a crasher, Grosjean returned from his race ban a more mature and wiser driver. During his eight-year career at Lotus and Haas, he scored seven more podiums between 2013 and 2015 before leaving the sport in 2020 following a fiery crash at the Bahrain GP.


Jacques Villeneuve – 1997

Jacques Villeneueve completes another lap

Photo: ‘williamsdb’/Wikimedia Commons


Reason for ban: Ignoring yellow flags during practice

Replacement/Race banned: Japanese GP/Raced under appeal

Jacques Villeneuve entered F1 in a blaze of excitement. He revolutionised how drivers behaved off the track and nearly entered the record books by becoming the first rookie world champion.

A year after finishing runner-up to teammate Damon Hill in 1996, Villeneuve went head-to-head with Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher for the 1997 title. The pair traded wins in a gripping season, but the Canadian found himself in hot water for an incident during practice for the penultimate race of the year, the Japanese GP at Suzuka.

During practice, Jos Verstappen’s Tyrrell remained stranded at the Spoon curve, forcing the yellow flags out, but the Canadian inexplicably kept his foot down and ignored them.

Because he had committed the same offence on three different occasions, the stewards banned Villeneuve from the next event, which was ironically the Japanese GP. Williams appealed, and the Canadian took the start, finishing fifth as Schumacher took victory.

Nine days later, the FIA threw the appeal out, and Villeneuve lost his points. He quickly regrouped, and after a controversial collision with Schumacher, which saw the German stripped of his points for the whole of 1997, the Canadian became world champion for the first and only time.


Mika Hakkinen – 1994

Mika Hakkinen exits the pits

Photo: Martin Lee/Wikimedia Commons


Reason for ban: Causing an accident at the German GP

Replacement/Race banned: Philippe Alliot/Hungarian GP

Mika Hakkinen burst onto the F1 scene with Lotus in 1991 and quickly became a star of the future with his consistent results in average machinery.

A move to McLaren came calling in 1993, but he had to wait for his chance as the team waited on Ayrton Senna, who spent the winter haggling over contracts with McLaren boss Ron Dennis. When he finally got his chance to replace the underperforming Michael Andretti, he instantly impressed, running second in the Portuguese GP before crashing out. In the Japanese GP, Hakkinen drove a stellar race to third, and with Senna departing for Williams in 1994, the Finn suddenly found himself as McLaren’s next team leader.

Sadly, the team’s fortunes started to go downhill in 1994. McLaren had signed up to become partners with Peugeot, whose V10 engine won two 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1992 and 1993. However, the French marque’s sportscar form didn’t translate to F1 as the engine was unreliable and sluggish, meaning Hakkinen couldn’t fight for wins.

Nevertheless, heading into the German GP at Hockenheim, Hakkinen had scored two podiums at Imola and Silverstone, proving to many paddock judges that he was one of the quickest drivers on the grid. But his third place in Britain had come at a price, as he received a suspended ban for colliding with Rubens Barrichello on the last lap.

His aggression went too far at the start in Germany. Amidst a 12-car pile-up, which turned the race into a farce, the Finn tagged David Coulthard into Turn 1, sending him slicing across five cars and into the tyre barrier.

Hakkinen was subsequently banned from the Hungarian GP, giving McLaren’s test driver and Peugeot’s preferred choice for the second drive, Philippe Alliot, a go. Approaching 40, Alliot was no spring chicken and proved, despite Peugeot’s insistence, that he wasn’t a match for Martin Brundle before he retired on Lap 21 with a water leak.

Hakkinen was back in the car for the Belgium GP and became a much smoother driver. This change in style helped him win two world titles in 1998 and 1999.

Michael Schumacher – 1994

Michael Schumacher hard at work

Photo: Martin Lee/Wikimedia Commons


Reason for ban: Overtaking on the formation lap and failing to serve stop-go within three laps at the British GP

Replacement/Race banned: JJ Lehto/Italian&Portugese GPs

Schumacher seemed destined for greatness when he arrived in the F1 paddock at the 1991 Belgian GP. In his first weekend for Jordan at a track he didn’t know well, he qualified seventh before retiring due to clutch issues. Nonetheless, he caught the eye of Benetton team boss Flavio Briatore, who wasted no time signing the German to a four-year contract.

The German showed he wasn’t a one-hit wonder by winning twice in 1992 and 1993, helping Benetton gain credibility. But it wasn’t until 1994 he became a championship contender winning six of the first seven races, giving him a 37-point lead over his only championship rival, Damon Hill.

It seemed that Schumacher had one hand and three fingers on the title heading into the British GP at Silverstone, but what followed was a race that put him under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. He overtook polesitter Hill twice on the formation lap, earning him a five-second stop/go penalty, which he would have to serve within three laps. Inexplicably, the German wasn’t informed of his penalty, and he pounded around, unaware of the storm brewing inside the stewards’ office.

Schumacher was then black-flagged and disqualified from the race on Lap 22, but Benetton tried everything to get the penalty appealed, enabling the German to stay out. He eventually finished second behind Hill before being disqualified from the final results on the Monday of the German GP. In addition, the FIA handed him a two-race ban, meaning he would miss his home race.

Schumacher’s fans were incensed by this and made plans to set bonfires in the forest surrounding Hockenheim, potentially triggering the race’s cancellation. Facing a potential catastrophe, the lord mayor of Hockenheim begged the authorities to let him start before Benetton decided to appeal the ban, enabling him to race.

July 1994 would become the month from hell for Benetton, with Schumacher unable to finish in Germany due to an engine failure and losing another win in Belgium due to a technical infringement surronding the car’s skid plank. In addition, a pit fire for Verstappen at Hockenheim had triggered more allegations that the team was cheating, putting them at risk of being thrown out of the championship.

Eventually, the appeal was upheld, and Schumacher missed the Italian and Portuguese GPs. Finland’s JJ Lehto, who had been lined up to be his teammate before a pre-season testing accident, took over the car with no success, as Benetton failed to score a point in either race.

After spending those two races as a TV pundit for German broadcaster RTL, Schumacher returned to action at the European GP at Jerez, winning his comeback race.

Hill took the championship down to the season finale at Adelaide in Australia with victory in atrocious conditions in Japan. The pair duked it out before a collision on Lap 35 secured the German’s maiden world title.

Eddie Irvine – 1994

Eddie Irvine on a lap

Photo: Martin Lee/Wikimedia Commons


Reason for ban: Causing a pile-up at the Brazilian GP

Replacement/Race banned: Aguri Suzuki/Andrea de Cesaris/ Pacific, San Marino & Monaco GP

One way to get noticed in the F1 paddock is by scoring points on your debut and unlapping yourself in the middle of the battle for the lead. Eddie Irvine had a debut to remember at the 1993 Japanese GP, finishing sixth in mixed conditions, before getting punched by race winner Senna in the paddock after a verbal jousting.

Eddie Jordan liked the cocky Northern Irishman’s pace and the extra publicity he brought to the team and signed him up for 1994 to partner Barrichello.

Jordan’s 194 was a much better package than its predecessor, with the Brian Hart-designed V10 engine helping the team move back into the midfield after two years stuck at the back.

For the season opener at Interlagos, Irvine could only manage 16th but had settled down into a steady rhythm until Lap 35. As he and Verstappen came up to lap Eric Bernard’s Ligier, the Northern Irishman jinked to the left, sending the Benetton onto the grass and causing him to flip over Brundle’s McLaren.

All four cars were eliminated on the spot, and Irvine was deemed at fault for the incident, receiving a one-race ban. Jordan then appealed the decision, only for it to be extended to three races.

With Irvine relegated to pitlane reporter and occasional Porsche SuperCup guest driver, Jordan fielded two experienced drivers in his absence. The first was Aguri Suzuki at Aida, who only managed 44 laps in his one-off appearance before steering issues put him out.

Andrea de Cesaris, a former Jordan driver in the team’s original lineup in 1991, took over the second car when F1 returned to Europe and performed amicably, finishing fourth at Monaco.

Irvine returned for the Spanish GP and ironed out his occasional bursts of madness. The Northern Irishman eventually became a Ferrari driver in 1996 and finished runners-up to Hakkinen in 1999 before moving to Jaguar for an ill-fated three-year spell.

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