This is a list of points scoring systems used to determine the outcome of the FIA Formula One World Drivers' Championships since 1950 and World 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 made a difference to the outcome in 1988, when McLaren drivers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost finished first and second respectively. Prost won 7 races and finished second in another 7 races, retiring from the other two. Senna won 8 races to Prost's 7, and with only 3 further second places he secured the championship, as only four of Prost's second places counted toward the Championship. Prost would have scored substantially more points than Senna if all the races had been counted. In 1964 John Surtees became champion ahead of Graham Hill for similar reasons.
When the Constructors' Championship was introduced in 1958, points were only awarded to each constructor for its single best-finishing driver in a points-scoring position. This was the case until the change introduced before the 1979 season saw a constructor's points total now being the accumulation of all points scored by the constructor's drivers: by this time, constructors were mostly running two-car teams (the final occasion on which a team had a one-car entry in a championship season was when Coloni fielded one car in 1991) and privateer entries had almost disappeared (the last time a privateer raced a customer car officially was in the season-ending 1980 United States Grand Prix with Rupert Keegan finishing 9th in a RAM-run Williams FW07, as the privateer entries were outlawed for the 1981 season).
A new system counting the points from all races was introduced in 1991, along with an extra point being awarded to the winner of a race (10 points versus the previously awarded 9 points), for the total of 26 points awarded per race.
In 2003, the FIA inflated the points system by 50%: to distribute 39 points per race between the first eight places instead of 24-26 points between the first five or six places along with a point for an occasional fastest lap, as had been the case since the inception of the championship. The FIA changed the scoring system again in 2010, this time inflating the points system by more than 150%, and extending it to the first ten places. 102 points are currently being distributed every race, with 25 being awarded to the race winner. In 2014, double points were awarded for the final race of the season to make it less likely that one dominant manufacturer or driver would build up an unassailable lead with several races still left, as had happened the year before.[1] Double points have not been used again since.[2]
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 its nearest rival. In 2002, Ferrari scored 221 points, as many as all the other teams combined.
Throughout history, bonus points have never been awarded for (most) led laps or pole positions, as was common in other racing series like IndyCar or most Touring Car championships.
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 | [a][b] | |||||
1954 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | N/A | [a][b][c] | |||||
1955 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | N/A | [a][c][d] | |||||
1956-1957 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | N/A | [a][c][d][e][f] | |||||
1958 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | [c][f][g][h][i][j] | ||||||
1959 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | [c][h][i][j] | ||||||
1960 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | [h][j] | ||||||
1961 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | [h][k] | |||||||
1962 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | [h] | ||||||
1963-1965 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | [h] | ||||||
1966 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | [f][h][l] | ||||||
1967 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 (5 from first 6, 4 from last 5) | [f][h][l] | ||||||
1968 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 (5 from first 6, 5 from last 6) | [h] | ||||||
1969 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 (5 from first 6, 4 from last 5) | [f][h] | ||||||
1970 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 (6 from first 7, 5 from last 6) | [h] | ||||||
1971 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 (5 from first 6, 4 from last 5) | [h] | ||||||
1972 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 (5 from first 6, 5 from last 6) | [h] | ||||||
1973-1974 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 13 (7 from first 8, 6 from last 7) | [h] | ||||||
1975 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 (6 from first 7, 6 from last 7) | [h][m] | ||||||
1976 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14 (7 from first 8, 7 from last 8) | [h] | ||||||
1977 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 15 (8 from first 9, 7 from last 8) | [h] | ||||||
1978 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14 (7 from first 8, 7 from last 8) | [h] | ||||||
1979 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 (4 from first 7, 4 from last 8) | All | [m] | |||||
1980 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 (5 from first 7, 5 from last 7) | All | [m] | |||||
1981-1990 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | All | [m][n] | |||||
1991-2002 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | All | [m] | ||||||
2003-2009 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | All | [m] | ||||
2010-2018 | 25 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | All | [o] | ||
25 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1[p] | All |