We are indebted to regular reader Johan Godfried - a man with clearly far too much time on his hands - for the spreadsheet pictured.

It reveals that to date, the 2017 F1 season has seen drivers collect 798 grid penalties between them.

Leading the way, as one would expect, is the McLaren duo, with Stoffel Vandoorne being demoted a total of 218 places and teammate Fernando Alonso 160. Indeed, though he was only in the car for one weekend, even Jenson Button picked up 15.

Surprisingly, though maybe not considering his last two weekends, Daniel Ricciardo (65) is third, ahead of Hulkenberg (55), Palmer and Hartley, both on 45, though the Kiwi's were mostly inherited.

In terms of engine manufacturers this works out at 393 for Honda, 304 for Renault, 68 for Ferrari and 33 for Mercedes.

In fairness, not all these grid penalties were down to engines, some were due to an infringement during qualifying, impeding or whatever, and these are marked in yellow. Then there are those penalties handed out for naughtiness in a previous race, these being marked in blue.

Stripping these out to leave only engine component and gearbox penalties reduces the grand total to 765, nonetheless, with 215 Vandoorne still leads the way from Alonso (160), Ricciardo (65) and Hulkenberg 55.

At the same time it reduces Mercedes to 25, Ferrari 60, Renault 290 and Honda 390, the Japanese manufacturer racking up 50% of the grand total.

And when one considers that Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault each power three teams and Honda just 2 cars...

All of which must leave Toro Rosso, and indeed Red Bull, hoping against hope that Honda takes a massive step forward in the months ahead… and that the 2021 engine regulations about to be announced are enough to encourage more manufacturers into the sport.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Dajomas, 04/11/2017 10:55

"@Pete / @DJ,

Yes, you are correct. Luckily their cars are/were both Renault powered so the engine tally remains the same but I did fix the error in the spreadsheet."

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2. Posted by Pete, 04/11/2017 2:13

"As "DJ" I stand corrected on the penalties in Australia but in the interest of accuracy, I see that the 20 grid spot penalty given to Kvyat in Belgium was incorrectly given to Hulkenburg in the spreadsheet."

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3. Posted by Editor, 31/10/2017 17:06

"@ Dajomas

Indeed."

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4. Posted by Dajomas, 31/10/2017 17:01

"@DJ @editor

And for the confirmation of Strolls penalty: 58627/Australian-GP-Qualifying-notes-Williams (First paragraph)"

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5. Posted by Dajomas, 31/10/2017 16:58

"@DJ @editor

Check out article 58636/Grid-penalty-for-Ricciardo on this site...."

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6. Posted by Editor, 31/10/2017 16:18

"@DJ

Melbourne:

Stroll: The gearbox of car 18 has been changed before 6 consecutive events have expired. Drop of 5 grid positions.

Ricciardo: The gearbox of car 3 has been changed before 6 consecutive events have expired. Drop of 5 grid positions.

This is why it's not worth doing such things, because there is always someone out there looking for mistakes, eager to call you a liar.

Look into it all you want DJ, my money is on Johan."

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7. Posted by Nortim, 31/10/2017 15:57

"They will have to create a time machine, some guys will have to start back in 1950s to serve all the penalties if this continues."

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8. Posted by DJ, 31/10/2017 15:36

"How did Stroll and Ricciardo get penalties for the first race? They also started on the grid the same place as they qualified so I think there must be an error in the spreadsheet for Australia. (And lots more looking into it!)"

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9. Posted by mzso, 31/10/2017 13:35

"@GrahamG
Without grid penalties the rich teams wouldn't give crap about putting in an arbitrary number of engines, because a fine is the only alternative.

Increasing the money wouldn't help either. It would ruin smaller teams, before the rich ones would start to care."

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10. Posted by imejl99, 31/10/2017 12:01

"Sporting regulations say: Unless he drives for more than one team, each driver may use no more than four power units during a championship season.

That should be it, instead it goes on... :
Should a driver use more than four of any of the six power unit elements during the course of a season, a grid penalty will be imposed. ...

Imagine, 4 PU, no fifth, sixth... race if you have a working engine, if not, sorry. Manage your engines thru the season. It could be more cost efficient than budget cap. Now it is like - spend all you want to, we will hit you with 78 grid positions, not that you care at all.

It already is turning into high speed chess, with quali and tires, strategies, why not incorporate engines?
Like, did you accidentally lost your Queen due to bad moves, or deliberately sacrificed Hungaroring for Spa?

"

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11. Posted by GrahamG, 31/10/2017 10:29

"Total nonsense, how can any system which "awards" a 35 place grid penalty be sensible
This system has been one of the many issues demotivating fans, teams and casual watchers and destroying so many chances of good interesting races and higher placing chances for smaller teams
"

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798 grid penalties thus far in 2017

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