Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Oliver Bearman heads into the Canadian Grand Prix weekend with his immediate Formula 1 race-ban threat reduced after two FIA super-licence penalty points expired, dropping the Haas driver from 10 points to eight and moving him away from the 12-point suspension limit.
The points that dropped off were issued on May 23, 2025 during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, when Bearman overtook Williams driver Carlos Sainz under red-flag conditions in practice. Under FIA rules, penalty points remain on a driver’s super-licence for 12 months to the day before they are removed, so Bearman’s total eased as that anniversary passed ahead of Canada.
That matters because Bearman had been the driver closest to an automatic ban. The FIA system triggers a one-race suspension if a driver reaches 12 points within a 12-month period, which meant Bearman had been living just two points from the threshold. A relatively minor further sanction could have put his next race weekend in doubt.
His total had built up through a series of 2025 incidents. The biggest hit came at Silverstone, where he received four points for crashing under red-flag conditions during practice at the British Grand Prix. He also picked up two points for a collision with Sainz at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, one point for driving judged potentially dangerous against Liam Lawson in the Sao Paulo GP Sprint, and one point for making more than one change of direction while defending in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Even with the Monaco points gone, Bearman is still carrying a heavy tally by current F1 standards, so the reduction is less a reset than a release of immediate pressure. Instead of arriving in Montreal one small step from an enforced weekend on the sidelines, he now has a little more margin to manage the next stretch of races.
There is also a clear route out of the danger zone if he stays out of trouble. The next four points due to expire are the Silverstone points, which come off on July 5, 2026, the day of this year’s British Grand Prix. If Bearman avoids new sanctions through the next four races, that next reduction would cut his total sharply again and leave the suspension risk far less pressing.
The penalty-points system has only produced one actual F1 ban since it was introduced, and that case also involved Haas. Kevin Magnussen was forced to miss the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after hitting the 12-point maximum at Monza, with Bearman stepping in for Haas at Baku.
For Bearman and Haas, that history is exactly why the timing of this expiry matters. Canada no longer opens with the Briton balanced on the edge of a one-race ban, and if he can get through the next few weekends cleanly, the bigger Silverstone drop-off should push the threat further into the background.