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World Championship points systems

Author

Revision date

1950-1959
1st 8 (4)
2nd 6 (3)
3rd 4 (2)
4th 3 (1.5)
5th 2 (1)
Fastest lap 1 (0.5)
Shared points (in parentheses) in two cases:
a When drivers shared one car (allowed until 1957)
Until 1957 a retired driver was allowed to take the place of a team mate, with points divided between them. In F1 history, this had led to three shared wins:

- Fangio/Fagioli, F 1951
- Fangio/Musso, RA 1956
- Moss/Brooks, GB 1957

From 1958 on, shared drives were still allowed but no points were rewarded. This happened in the case of Carroll Shelby and Masten Gregory sharing the Temple Buell 250F to 4th at Monza. This "disencouragement" effectively ended the practice of shared drives.

The last shared win was in the non-championship 1962 Mexican GP: Jim Clark took over Trevor Taylor's 25/R2 to take the win.
b When drivers set the same fastest lap time
Achieving the exact same lap times is not altogether impossible, as was proven in Jerez '97 when the first three on the grid clocked the same qualifying time - equal to a thousandth of a second! In the past, measuring was done in tenths so the in itself tiny chance was even bigger. In the 1954 British GP this led to the unique event of seven drivers sharing the fastest lap: Fangio, Gonzalez, Hawthorn, Moss, Marimon, Ascari and Behra. So they were all awarded 1/7 point...
1960
1st 8 (4)
2nd 6 (3)
3rd 4 (2)
4th 3 (1.5)
5th 2 (1)
6th 1 (0.5)
1961-1990
1st 9 (4.5)
2nd 6 (3)
3rd 4 (2)
4th 3 (1.5)
5th 2 (1)
6th 1 (0.5)
Half points when 75% of the original race distance is not reached
The last time this occurred was at the 2009 Malaysian GP. To accommodate European viewers the race was started at 5 PM local time, even though the organisers had warned that the race would likely run into monsoon time. This duly happened and the race had to be stopped just over half-distance. Jenson Button was in front when the red flag was waved.
In 1975 this happened on two occasions! Two outsiders won the race: in Spain Jochen Mass was the victor and in Austria Vittorio Brambilla won. The race at Montjuich was stopped because of Rolf Stommelen's horrific accident, killing several spectators. It was also the first and only time a lady driver scored World Championship points. Lella Lombardi's 6th place was worth half a point...
The other two occasions were at the 1991 Australian GP which was stopped after 15 laps and won by Senna, and at Monaco in 1984 when Prost took the flag just before a young man called Ayrton Senna could storm by...
1991-2002
1st 10 (5)
2nd 6 (3)
3rd 4 (2)
4th 3 (1.5)
5th 2 (1)
6th 1 (0.5)
2003-2009
1st 10 (5)
2nd 8 (4)
3rd 6 (3)
4th 5 (2.5)
5th 4 (2)
6th 3 (1.5)
7th 2 (1)
8th 1 (0.5)
2010-2018
1st 25 (12.5)
2nd 18 (9)
3rd 15 (7.5)
4th 10 (5)
5th 8 (4)
6th 6 (3)
7th 5 (2.5)
8th 3 (1.5)
9th 2 (1)
10th 1 (0.5)
2019-2020
1st 25 (12.5)
2nd 18 (9)
3rd 15 (7.5)
4th 10 (5)
5th 8 (4)
6th 6 (3)
7th 5 (2.5)
8th 3 (1.5)
9th 2 (1)
10th 1 (0.5)
Fastest lap 1 (0.5)
2021
1st 25 (12.5)
2nd 18 (9)
3rd 15 (7.5)
4th 10 (5)
5th 8 (4)
6th 6 (3)
7th 5 (2.5)
8th 3 (1.5)
9th 2 (1)
10th 1 (0.5)
Fastest lap 1 (0.5)
Qualifying sprint
1st 3
2nd 2
3rd 1
2022-...
1st 25
2nd 18
3rd 15
4th 10
5th 8
6th 6
7th 5
8th 3
9th 2
10th 1
Fastest lap 1
Sprint race
1st 8
2nd 7
3rd 6
4th 5
5th 4
6th 3
7th 2
8th 1
Points for two laps but less than 25% of scheduled race distance
1st 6
2nd 4
3rd 3
4th 2
5th 1
Points for completing 25% but less than 50% of scheduled race distance
1st 13
2nd 10
3rd 8
4th 6
5th 5
6th 4
7th 3
8th 2
9th 1
Points for completing 50% but less than 75% of scheduled race distance
1st 19
2nd 14
3rd 12
4th 9
5th 8
6th 6
7th 5
8th 3
9th 2
10th 1
Best scores counting towards the Championship
1950-1953 four best scores
1954-1957, 1959, 1961-1962, 1966 five best scores
1958, 1960, 1963-1965 six best scores
1967, 1969 five best scores from first six races, four best scores from last five races
1968, 1972 five best scores from first six races, five best scores from last six races
1970-1971 six best scores from first seven races, five best scores from last six races
1973 seven best scores from first eight races, six best scores from last seven races
1974, 1976, 1978 seven best scores from first eight races, seven best scores from last eight races
1975 seven best scores from first eight races, six best scores from last seven races
1977 eight best scores from first nine races, seven best scores from last eight races
1979 four best scores from first seven races, four best scores from last eight races
1980 five best scores from first seven races, five best scores from last seven races
1981 ten best scores
1982-1990 eleven best scores
1991-... all scores