How many penalty points would F1 movie star Sonny Hayes have got in real life?

The F1 movie has hit the big screen but plenty of viewers have come away with one question: is what Sonny Hayes did actually allowed?

The simple answer to that is no but before we get into why, we are giving you a massive spoiler warning for the movie as all plot points will be discussed so if you haven’t seen it yet but plan to, save this to your bookmarks and come back at a later stage.

How many penalty points would F1 movie star Sonny Hayes have got in real life?

For those of you staying, you will be aware that in order for Hayes and his APXGP team to compete, Brad Pitt’s character starts to play dirty.

The actor himself said this was a reference to the likes of Crashgate as well the driving style of Kevin Magnussen but as this is Hollywood, the movie replicates that and then some.

Having joined the ailing team midway through the 2023 season, Hayes’ first race comes at Silverstone and he is up to some dirty tricks from the off.

As the 21 other drivers pull away for the formation lap, Hayes remains still. His team panics that something is wrong with the car but they soon realise that Hayes is doing it on purpose, allowing him to drive in clean air for his formation lap and warm up his tyres more than his competitors can.

The result is he gets a much better start than those around but would that be allowed? This one may come down to the stewards’ verdict.

In the FIA penalty guidelines, there are two entries when it comes to driving slowly and they depend on whether it was done in a dangerous manner or not.

If it was, that is three penalty points and at least a 10-second penalty but APXGP could argue that there was no danger considering Hayes was last on the grid so he may get away with either a five or 10-second penalty.

The good start comes undone when the pit crew produces a slow stop, at which point Hayes decides to play even more dirty.

A team order instructs him to let his team-mate Joshua Pearce by but Hayes does not do so easily. The two eventually crash in what looked like a racing incident more than anything and one the stewards may not take too much interest in.

After the UK race, the next race of note was Monza where Hayes’ worst side comes out.

In Monza, he qualifies well but an early collision sends him into the pits. Hayes asks the teams for soft tyres but is given the hard, leading to Hayes sitting still in the pit box and refusing to budge until he gets the tyres he wants.

Now, we’ve had a good look through the guidelines and can’t actually see any rule this breaks, probably because no driver would ever do it in real life. Therefore, we will let him off for this.

What we can’t let him off for is what comes next. Knowing his race is done, Hayes hits opponents not once but twice to damage his own car and bring out the safety car in order to help his team-mate.

Any hope that Hayes could claim it was accidental was undone with his team saying over the radio he did it on purpose so that is a slam-dunk case of ‘Causing a collision with apparent deliberate or reckless intent.’

Along with a 10-second stop-and-go, Hayes would get four penalty points each time.

With his team-mate now in the points and possibly within a chance of winning, Hayes deliberately goes off the track to hit a polystyrene sign, exploding it into a thousand pieces and onto the track. This move brings out the red flag, meaning Pearce is now able to get a free pit stop and have a chance at a win.

As for Hayes, it is hard to tell exactly what rule he has broken. There is ‘Leaving the track without a justifiable reason – Track limits’ which just sees a lap deleted but the obvious nature of Hayes’ move may warrant something more severe.

After the red flag, we don’t have to wait too long for his next infringement. With Pearce trailing Max Verstappen, Hayes decides to slow down and allow himself to be caught up by the Dutchman.

Once there, Hayes holds up the Red Bull car long enough for Pearce to catch but doing so is undoubtedly a penalty.

The stewards would most likely deem this to be both ‘Failing to respect blue flags or lights on the track’ and ‘Driving unnecessarily slowly in a dangerous manner’ and that is another three points for Hayes’ licence.

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In the end, Pearce crashes, meaning APXGP miss out on the win and having been forced to go back to an old spec for the Las Vegas GP, the movie and season ends with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The infringements here come right at the end but this time it is Pearce who is at fault. As Hayes and Pearce battle Lewis Hamilton for the win, Pearce and Hamilton make contact which was more Pearce’s fault than it was Hamilton’s. It could be argued it was a racing incident but given the team’s history, Pearce may find himself with three penalty points of his own.

So in total, Hayes’ record looks like this:

• Takes too long to start the formation lap at the British GP – 10-second penalty and possible three penalty points depending on the stewards
• Hitting Kevin Magnussen during the Italian Grand Prix – 10-second stop-and-go and four penalty points
• Hitting Valtteri Bottas during the Italian Grand Prix – 10-second stop-and-go and four penalty points
• Intentionally hitting an advertising sign to cause a red flag – Lap deleted but could be more severe penalty depending on the stewards
• Holding up Max Verstappen under blue flags at the Italian Grand Prix – Drive-through penalty and two penalty points
• Driving unnecessarily slowly in a dangerous manner when battling Verstappen at the Italian Grand Prix – 10-second stop-and-go and three penalty points

So in total, Hayes racked up 16 penalty points in just three races, taking him well over the race ban limit of 12. Of course, the FIA would take an even harsher view of a team and driver deliberately cheating so chances are, Hayes would not even get near the track again after that Monza race.

But alas, this is the movie business and Hayes races off into the distance with his first F1 win achieved, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

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