Penalties
FIA · 2026 · Issue 09Stewards’ decisions and the difference between time and pit-lane penalties.
Who decides
The stewards investigate incidents and decide penalties. For an incident, blame must be wholly or predominantly clear before penalising a driver. Available sanctions include time penalties, drive-throughs, stop-and-go penalties, grid drops and disqualification. A qualifying infringement may instead result in deleted lap times or a grid penalty.
Serving penalties
For a short time penalty served at a pit stop, work must wait until the penalty period expires. If there is no further pit stop, the time may be added to the result. A drive-through means passing without stopping; a stop-and-go requires a separate stationary penalty. Deadlines, neutralisation restrictions and late-race conversions also apply.
Sources & approach ↗