Alex Albon reveals F1 drivers have ‘an understanding’ FIA must make key change amid ban threat

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Alex Albon has revealed that Formula 1 drivers have ‘an understanding’ that the FIA must change its rules after Kevin Magnussen received the first race ban in 12 years.

Not since the FIA slapped Romain Grosjean with a one-race ban for causing a huge start-line crash at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix had it made a driver miss an event until Magnussen sat out the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. But the Dane was absent in Baku over different reasons.

The FIA automatically banned Magnussen for the Azerbaijan GP after he reached 12 penalty points on the Haas driver’s super licence. Any Formula 1 driver to receive 12 points on their licence within a rolling 12-month period receives a one-race ban without any further action.

Alex Albon urges the FIA to tweak the F1 penalty point and race ban system

Magnussen had run the risk of picking up a race ban for several months after racking up the points through the early rounds of the 2024 Formula 1 season. The 32-year-old had merited three points in Saudi Arabia, two points in China, five points in Miami and lastly two in Italy.

His first 10 penalty points came from March 9 to May 5, and Magnussen eventually hit 12 on September 1. All but three penalty points were also given as Magnussen crashed with Albon in Saudi Arabia, Yuki Tsunoda in China, Logan Sargeant in Miami and Pierre Gasly at Monza.

READ MORE: Haas driver Kevin Magnussen’s life outside F1 from wife and daughters to net worth

But Williams racer Albon has now called for the FIA to adjust the criteria required to receive a penalty point. The London-born Thai further claims that his fellow Formula 1 drivers are in agreement that the current rules are too extreme with points not always issued consistently.

“Everyone’s under an understanding that we’ve just got to shuffle the system around a little bit,” Albon said, via RacingNews365. “It needs to be a little bit more forgiving around what constitutes penalty points and whatnot. If it’s done right, then it can be okay to have.”

Fernando Alonso is the F1 driver most at risk of receiving a race ban next

Magnussen avoiding any penalties on his return from a one-race ban in the Singapore Grand Prix saw that he remained one of 10 drivers – as well as Liam Lawson who will earn his 2024 term debut for Visa Cash App RB in the United States Grand Prix – without a point right now.

Currently, Carlos Sainz has one penalty point, Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas have two, Esteban Ocon holds three, Nico Hulkenberg has four, Lance Stroll has five, Sergio Perez plus George Russell boast seven and Fernando Alonso has eight amongst the drivers with points.

READ MORE: Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso’s life outside F1 from net worth to Cars 2

Aston Martin ace Alonso is the F1 driver most at risk of getting a race ban next. The 43-year-old will not lose any of the 12 penalty points on his licence until March 24, 2025 after he got three for driving ‘unnecessarily slowly’ and causing Russell’s late Australian Grand Prix crash.

So, based on the FIA’s current rules, Alonso must avoid picking up four more penalty points through the next eight rounds or he will receive an automatic race ban. Those eight rounds include each practice and qualifying session over four F1 Sprint events and eight Grand Prix.