List of Formula One World Championship points scoring systems

Wikipedia list article

This is a Formula One World Championship scoring system used by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA uses this system to decide the FIA World Drivers' and Constructors' Championships since the 1950 season. The Championships are awarded to the driver and constructor (car builder) who score the most points over the course of the season.

In 2002, Michael Schumacher scored 144 from a maximum of 170 Championship points.
(2004 car pictured)

From 1950 through 1959, a championship point was awarded to the driver (and team starting in 1958) that set the fastest lap.

In some seasons, not all race results would be counted towards the World Championship. Only a certain number of a driver's best results would count. In 1988 this caused a very unusual result. Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna were the drivers for McLaren. They were the best two drivers of that year. There were 16 races that year, but only the best 11 results counted towards the championship. Prost won seven races and finished seven races in second place. He scored a total of 105 points, but only 87 of them counted for the championship. Senna won eight races and finished second in three, giving him 90 points for the championship and 94 for the season. This resulted in the strange event where Prost took a record number of points, yet Senna won the champion. A new system counting all races was introduced in 1991. One additional point was also awarded to the race winner.

The current system was introduced for the 2010 season. It was designed to allow more teams and drivers to score points.

The most dominant Drivers' Champion in terms of points scored is Jim Clark. Clark scored the maximum of 54 points (6 wins) in both 1963 and 1965. In recent years, Michael Schumacher finished on the podium (one of the top three finishers) in every race of the 2002 season. Schumacher scored 144 of a maximum 170 points. The most dominant Constructors' Champion in recent times was McLaren in 1988. McLaren scored 199 of a maximum 240 points available. McLaren finished 134 points ahead of the second place team. In 2002, Ferrari scored 221 points of a maximum 340 points available. Ferrari finished 129 points ahead of the second place team.

Pointscoring systems change

Seasons 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Fastest lap Sprint Qualifying Results Best results counted towards Drivers' Championship Best results counted towards Constructors' Championship Notes
19501953 8 6 4 3 2 1 4 N/A [1][2]
1954 8 6 4 3 2 1 5 N/A [1][2][3]
1955 8 6 4 3 2 1 5 N/A [1][3][4]
19561957 8 6 4 3 2 1 5 N/A [1][3][4][5][6]
1958 8 6 4 3 2 1 6 Same as Drivers' Championship [3][6][7][8][9]
1959 8 6 4 3 2 1 5 Same as Drivers' Championship [3][8][9]
1960 8 6 4 3 2 1 6 Same as Drivers' Championship [8]
19611962 9 6 4 3 2 1 5 Same as Drivers' Championship [8]
19631965 9 6 4 3 2 1 6 Same as Drivers' Championship [8]
1966 9 6 4 3 2 1 5 Same as Drivers' Championship [6][8][10]
1967 9 6 4 3 2 1 9
(5 from first 6, 4 from last 5)
Same as Drivers' Championship [6][8][10]
1968 9 6 4 3 2 1 10
(5 from first 6, 5 from last 6)
Same as Drivers' Championship [8]
1969 9 6 4 3 2 1 9
(5 from first 6, 4 from last 5)
Same as Drivers' Championship [6][8]
1970 9 6 4 3 2 1 11
(6 from first 7, 5 from last 6)
Same as Drivers' Championship [6][8]
1971 9 6 4 3 2 1 9
(5 from first 6, 4 from last 5)
Same as Drivers' Championship [8]
1972 9 6 4 3 2 1 10
(5 from first 6, 5 from last 6)
Same as Drivers' Championship [8]
19731974 9 6 4 3 2 1 13
(7 from first 8, 6 from last 7)
Same as Drivers' Championship [8]
1975 9 6 4 3 2 1 12
(6 from first 7, 6 from last 7)
Same as Drivers' Championship [8][11]
1976 9 6 4 3 2 1 14
(7 from first 8, 7 from last 8)
Same as Drivers' Championship [8]
1977 9 6 4 3 2 1 15
(8 from first 9, 7 from last 8)
Same as Drivers' Championship [8]
1978 9 6 4 3 2 1 14
(7 from first 8, 7 from last 8)
Same as Drivers' Championship [8]
1979 9 6 4 3 2 1 8
(4 from first 7, 4 from last 8)
All [11]
1980 9 6 4 3 2 1 10
(5 from first 7, 5 from last 7)
All [11]
19811984 9 6 4 3 2 1 All Same as Drivers' Championship [11][12]
19851990 9 6 4 3 2 1 11 All [11][12]
19912002 10 6 4 3 2 1 All Same as Drivers' Championship [11]
20032009 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 All Same as Drivers' Championship [11]
2010–2018 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 All Same as Drivers' Championship [11][13]
2019-2020 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 1 All Same as Drivers' Championship
2021 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 1 Top 3 Finishers All Same as Drivers' Championship

Notes change

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Constructors' World Championship was not awarded from 1950 to 1957.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Points for drivers sharing the same car were shared equally between the drivers, regardless of how many laps each driver completed.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Points were shared equally between drivers who set the same fastest lap time (an extreme example of which happened in the 1954 British Grand Prix where seven drivers set the same fastest lap time, and each received 1/7 of a point).
  4. 4.0 4.1 Points for drivers sharing the same car were shared equally between the drivers, even if they drove more than one points-scoring car (for example, the 1955 Argentine Grand Prix), unless one driver was determened to have completed "insufficient distance" (for example, the 1957 British Grand Prix).
  5. Drivers who shared more than one car in a race only received points for their highest finish (for example, the 1956 Monaco Grand Prix).
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Formula 2 cars raced with Formula One cars in the following Grands Prix, but were ineligible for World Championship points.
  7. Points were no longer awarded for shared race drives (for example, the 1958 Italian Grand Prix, and the 1960 Argentine Grand Prix).
  8. 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 8.15 8.16 Only the points of the highest-scoring driver for each constructor at each race (including privateer entries) were counted towards the Constructors' Championship.
  9. 9.0 9.1 The point for fastest lap was only awarded to drivers, not constructors
  10. 10.0 10.1 Drivers who were not classified (did not complete a specified amount of race distance) did not score points, even if they finished in the top 6.
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 Half points were awarded for races stopped before three-quarter-distance was completed.
  12. 12.0 12.1 Second drivers of teams that officially entered only one car were not eligible for points. This affected Jo Gartner who drove for (Osella) and Gerhard Berger who drove for (ATS), and finished fifth and sixth at the 1984 Italian Grand Prix and Yannick Dalmas who drove for (Larrousse), and finished fifth at the 1987 Australian Grand Prix. Their points were not redistributed.
  13. "FIA F1 Commission Press Release 02/02/2010" 2 February 2010

References change

  • "Formula 1.com – Results archive". Retrieved 2006-12-16.