~This explains very well that taking risk is still rewarded and finishing 10th with a total of 4 penalties is crazy as they all stack up.~
Hmm...
10th place instead of first. Great reward!

It is clear that everyone has the right to a subjective opinion regardless of anything, but here it is a question of simple mathematics. I don't want to argue, I'm just curious: is there any math that supports this? I'd be glad if someone could point out the errors in my math (which support the opposite opinion).
I think this does indeed support this.
Avoiding penalties is crucial and yet in Top 10 we have:
0 penalties - 4 players (1st, 4th, 6th, 7th)
1 penalty - 2 players (2nd, 3rd)
2 penalties - 3 players (5th, 8th, 9th)
4 penalties - 1 player (10th)
Smartvirus in 11th place has 278 points with 2 penalties, leea-1334 has 321 point with 2 penalties.
I have 20 more points with a penalty than Trofo without it and 30 more than LTU_btc who also avoided the penalty.
Having two players coming 2nd and 3rd despite a penalty is good support for that in my opinion and the added information below, a 43 points difference between two players who both had two penalties, in my opinion definitely shows that risk is rewarded to some degree. Of course if it comes at the cost of stacking up more penalties, it won't pay off, but that is essentially the same in any contest. If you get it wrong, you lose.
One player finished 5th with two penalties, which I think can only be the case if more points have been collected while taking higher risks.