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List of Formula One World Championship points scoring systems

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In , scored 144 from a maximum of 170 Championship points

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

This is a list of points scoring systems used to determine the outcome of the FIA World Drivers' Championships since 1950 and Constructors' Championships since 1958 (when the Constructors Cup was inaugurated). The Championships are awarded each year to the driver and constructor who accumulate the most championship points over the course of the Championship season.

In most seasons until 1990, only a certain number of a driver's best results were counted towards the World Championship. This was most significant in 1988, when McLaren drivers Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna were dominant. Prost finished 14 races in either first or second, retiring from the other two, while Senna won 8 races to Prost's 7, meaning that he only needed 3 further 2nd places to secure the championship irrespective of Prost's other results. This resulted in the anomaly that Prost took the highest number of points, yet did not become champion. A new system counting the points from all races was introduced in 1991, together with an additional point awarded to the winner.

The most dominant Drivers' Champion in terms of points scored is Jim Clark, who scored the maximum of 54 points (6 wins) in both 1963 and 1965. In recent times, Michael Schumacher finished on the podium in every race of the 2002 season to score 144 of a maximum 170 points. The most dominant Constructors' Champion in recent times was McLaren in 1988, scoring 199 of a maximum 240 points and finishing 134 points ahead of their nearest rival. In 2002, Ferrari scored 221 points, as many as all the other teams put together.

Points scoring systems[]

Seasons 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Fastest lap Best results counted towards Drivers' Championship Best results counted towards Constructors' Championship Notes
1950–1953 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]
1956–1957 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]
1961–1962 9 6 4 3 2 1 5 Same as Drivers' Championship [10] [8]
1963–1965 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] [11]
1967 9 6 4 3 2 1 9
(5 from first 6, 4 from last 5) 		Same as Drivers' Championship [6] [8] [11]
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 [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]
1973–1974 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] [12]
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 [12]
1980 9 6 4 3 2 1 10
(5 from first 7, 5 from last 7) 		All [12]
1981–1984 9 6 4 3 2 1 All Same as Drivers' Championship [12] [13]
1985–1990 9 6 4 3 2 1 11 All [12] [13]
1991–2002 10 6 4 3 2 1 All Same as Drivers' Championship [12]
2003–2009 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 All Same as Drivers' Championship [12]
2010– 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 All Same as Drivers' Championship [12]

Notes[]

  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 shared drives 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 shared drivers were shared equally between the drivers, even if they drove more than one points-scoring car (e.g. 1955 Argentine Grand Prix), unless one driver was deemed to have completed "insufficient distance" (e.g. 1957 British Grand Prix).
  5. ↑ Drivers who shared more than one car in a race only received points for their highest finish (e.g. 1956 Monaco Grand Prix).
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 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 (e.g. 1958 Italian Grand Prix, 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. ↑ Points were awarded on an 8-6-4-3-2-1 basis for the 1961 Constructors title as indicated in Automobile Year, 1961-1962, page 116
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Drivers who were not classified (ie did not complete a specified amount of race distance) did not score points, even if they finished in the top 6.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 Half points were awarded for races stopped before three-quarter-distance was completed.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Second drivers of teams that officially entered only one car were not eligible for points. This affected Jo Gartner (Osella) and Gerhard Berger (ATS), who finished fifth and sixth at the 1984 Italian Grand Prix and Yannick Dalmas (Larrousse) who finished fifth at the 1987 Australian Grand Prix. Their points were not redistributed.

References[]

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