How do F1 points work? Race, sprint and points history

How many points a race pays

Under the 2026 regulations, the top ten in the final classification score race points: 25 for the win, then 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1. These points count towards two championships at once — the Drivers’ Championship and the Constructors’ Championship.

Drivers who retire are still classified if they covered at least 90% of the winner’s laps, rounded down. So a driver whose car stopped a few laps from the end can still score if they were in the top ten. Anyone who covered less is not classified.

What if the race isn’t run to the end?

Then the points depend on how much of the distance the leader completed: full points only for three quarters or more. And in every case there are no points unless the leader has completed two full laps in a row without the safety car or the Virtual Safety Car.

A boundary always counts towards the higher column: if the leader completed exactly half the distance, the winner gets 19. Distance is counted in laps — the number set for the event in the FIA documents.

The rule used to be different. In 2021, reduced points were given only if a race was stopped and could not be restarted. If the leader had completed two laps or fewer, there were no points; beyond that and up to three quarters of the distance, half points. The 2021 Belgian Grand Prix fell under that rule: it was stopped because of the weather. The classification was taken after one lap, but the leader had crossed the line three times, which was enough for half points: Max Verstappen got 12.5 for the win.

In 2022 the table based on the share of distance already existed, but it too applied only to races that were stopped and not restarted. That is why Verstappen got the full 25 points at the Japanese Grand Prix on 9 October 2022, where 28 of the 53 laps were run. Under the 2026 rules, that distance — more than half but less than three quarters — would have earned the winner 19. What happens on track when a race is stopped is explained in the flags article.

How many points a sprint pays

In 2026 the top eight in a sprint score points: 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. They also count towards both championships. If the sprint leader has not completed half the distance, no points are awarded at all.

A sprint is a short race of just over 100 km on the second day of a sprint weekend. There are six such weekends in 2026: Shanghai, Miami, Montreal, Silverstone, Zandvoort and Singapore. How a sprint weekend works is explained in the race weekend chapter, and how Sprint Qualifying works in the sprint article.

The first sprint was held at Silverstone in 2021. Back then it was officially called “sprint qualifying”, and the top three scored 3, 2 and 1. Since 2022 the top eight have scored in a sprint, from 8 down to 1.

Is there a point for the fastest lap?

No. The point for the fastest lap of the race was scrapped from the 2025 season — the FIA World Motor Sport Council decided so on 17 October 2024.

Before that, a point for the fastest lap was awarded from 2019 to 2024, but only if the driver who set it finished in the top ten. And in the 1950s the point for the fastest lap went to whoever set it, even a driver who retired. At the 1954 British Grand Prix, seven drivers shared the fastest lap time, and each got a seventh of a point.

How the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships are decided

The drivers’ world champion is the one with the most points over the season: all the races and sprints that took place are added up. The Constructors’ Championship goes to the team with the highest combined total of both its drivers. If a team uses an engine from another manufacturer, the title is still the team’s.

The Constructors’ Championship has been contested since 1958, and Vanwall were its first winners. A place in it gives teams more than a line in the table: it decides how much wind-tunnel testing and computer simulation they are allowed. The champions get 70% of the baseline allowance, second place 75%, and so on in 5% steps up to 115% for tenth place and below, as well as for a new team.

Other reasons why teams fight for places in the Constructors’ Championship are covered in the chapter “Points and the championship”.

What if points are tied?

The driver with more race wins is ahead. If wins are equal, the one with more second places, then third places and so on. If that still doesn’t separate them, their qualifying results over the season are compared the same way.

That was the situation before the last race of 2021: Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton had 369.5 points each, and Verstappen was ahead on wins — nine to eight. The title was settled by the Abu Dhabi finale, which Verstappen won.

If two cars share a place in the classification, the points for the places they occupy are added together and shared equally.

How the points system has changed since 1950

The scale has changed several times: first the top five scored, then the top six, the top eight and finally the top ten, and the reward for a win grew from 8 points to 25.

• 1950–1959: 8, 6, 4, 3, 2 and a point for the fastest lap.
• 1960: 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 — sixth place now scored, and the fastest lap no longer did.
• 1961–1990: 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1.
• 1991–2002: 10, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1.
• 2003–2009: 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
• Since 2010: 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1.

There were exceptions. In 2014 the last race of the season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, paid double points: Lewis Hamilton got 50 for the win. And from 2019 to 2024 the fastest lap earned a point again.

In various seasons up to and including 1990, only a driver’s best results counted. In 1964 Graham Hill scored 41 points in races, 39 of them counted, and John Surtees became champion with 40. In 1988 Alain Prost scored 105 points to Ayrton Senna’s 94, but only 87 and 90 counted — and Senna became champion.