Recent issues in Russia, with the whole doping scandal affecting their participation in the Olympics, have shown had bad doping can be in sports. And then add in motorsport to that bracket, and you can have a whole host of issues.

Motorsport can see you banned for more than just doping. Various drivers have come and gone, and some of those have been banned for various accidents.

The first person on this list was banned for a rather hefty crash indeed. Read on to find out just who.

On a whole, this list contains several drivers who have been banned from racing. Either for good, one race, or a prolonged period of time. Some of the instances we have listed here are quite simply outrageous, others are a bit more mundane.

But, they are all quite interesting, and it is a surprise in some ways that more people have not been banned from racing as well.

16 Romain Grosjean

Romain Grosjean earned himself a one race ban from the 2012 Italian Grand Prix, after causing a violent crash at the start of the previous race in Belgium. He made contact with Lewis Hamilton and the ensuing pileup saw Grosjean fly over Fernando Alonso, inches from his head. It also took out Hamilton and Kamui Kobyashi.

15 Mahaveer Raghunathan

Mahaveer Raghunathan became something of a joke in the 2019 Formula 2 season, for being incredibly slow and causing multiple incidents. He collected 12 penalty points on his license, taking nine in one hit after he failed to observe the virtual safety car procedure at the feature race in Paul Ricard. That took him to the 12, which is automatically a ban for an F2 weekend.

14 Frank Montagny

In 2014, Montagny was signed up by the Andretti Formula E team and started that season well with a podium. He then tested positive for a drug derivative after the following race in Putrajaya. He earned a two-year ban which finished in 2016, but since then he has not competed in racing.

13 Michael Schumacher

Michael Schumacher was famously banned for two Grand Prix in 1994, after a total mess up at that years British Grand Prix saw him serve a time penalty late, and ignore black flags that should have seen him pulled from the race. Ironically, he was also disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix, the same race that saw his team protest the ban he had received.

12 Santino Ferrucci

Santino Ferrucci might have sent waves through IndyCar this year, but many forget how much of a complete idiot he had been in F2 in 2019. Aside from racial allegations towards his then-teammate, Arjun Maini, he was banned from F2 competition for driving his car one-handed…whilst using his cell phone. Oh, and he never paid his Trident team his sponsor money, so the team naturally went after him.

11 A.J. Allmendinger

A.J. Allmendinger was famously banned from racing after failing a drug test in NASCAR. He had tested positive for Adderall, and he was also fired by team boss Roger Penske in 2012. He went through NASCAR’s road to recovery program and returned to racing in September of that year. He even took part in the 2013 Indy 500.

10 Andrea Iannone

Not technically a driver, as Iannone is a MotoGP rider. But his recent suspension is worth mentioning. Late in 2019, Iannone was suspended by the FIM for a drug-related infringement, testing positive for an anabolic steroid. He is confident of appealing and overturning the provisional suspension, but that might not be so easy.

9 Nick Leventis

After the 2018 California 8 Hours GT3 Pro-Am class, the car of the Strakka Racing squad wen through a doping test. Well, the drivers did. David Fumanelli and Felipe Fraga had no issues, but Nick Leventis did. His test was found positive for Anastrozole and the whole squad was disqualified from the results. Leventis retired from FIA Motorsports in February this year, and his bran runs through to October 2022.

8 Igor Walilko

Despite being only thirteen, Igor Walilko was not immune to doping tests. And sadly, he was found to have tested positive for Nikethamide after a round of the German Karting championship. He was initially suspended for two years, but after an appeal, the sentence was reduced to 18 months instead.

7 Nigel Mansell

Nigel Mansell’s ban was a strange one, back in Portugal in 1989. He was black-flagged in that race, after locking up in the pits and swerving around his Ferrari mechanics. Mansell ignored the black flag and then collided with Ayrton Senna, and both were out. Thus, Mansell was banned from competing in the following race in Jerez.

6 Eddie Irvine

Eddie Irvine was initially handed a one-race ban in 1994, for being involved in a nasty accident that took out Jos Verstappen and Martin Brundle. His Jordan team appealed the ban, yet found it was then extended to three races! It was a warning from the FIA, to think carefully about appealing any form of ban.

5 Felipe Massa

Massa was given a ten-place grid penalty for the 2002 United States Grand Prix after he caused a big collision with Pedro De La Rosa at the Italian Grand Prix. But, in a weird quirk, at the time those penalties only applied to the car's next race, not the drivers. So Sauber replaced Massa for the US Grand Prix with Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

4 Mika Hakkinen

Hakkinen was another driver that had a ban during the 1994 Formula 1 season, along with Irvine and Schumacher. He was given a suspended ban, with Rubens Barichello, for a pretty mundane collision at the end of the British Grand Prix. But that ban came into effect after he caused a multi-car pileup at the start of the following race in Germany. He thus missed the Italian Grand Prix.

3 Tomas Enge

Whilst racing in the 2002 International Formula 3000 Championship, Czech racer Tomas Enge tested positive following the Hungaroring round but competed in the remaining rounds that year whilst under investigation. He won the championship, but after being tested positive he was disqualified from the Hungary round and ended that year third in the standings.

2 Romano Fenati

Another motorbike racer, Fenati was banned from racing in 2018 after he grabbed the brake lever of Stegano Manzi during the Moto2 race at Misano that year. He has subsequently returned to racing in Moto3, but he was widely criticized for his actions and many were surprised he was given a chance to race again.

1 Anthony Kumpen

An FIA GT1 driver and a champion twice in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Elite 1 championship, Kumpen had a bad 2018. He was tested positive for amphetamines, after the 2018 edition of the 24 Hours of Zolder. In an instant, he was barred from future competition. It got messy in court, with Kempen claiming he was recovering from injuries sustained from a crash. He was then banned from racing for four years and fined 2,000 euros.

Sources: Cars GM, Visor Down, Pinterest, F1 History, Boss GP, Planet F1