Ever sat on your couch during a rainy Grand Prix, watched a driver scramble into tenth place, and wondered why they’re celebrating like they just won the lottery? It’s because of a single point. In the high-stakes world of F1, that one point can be the difference between a mid-field team getting millions in prize money or going bankrupt. Formula 1 points aren't just numbers on a screen; they are the literal currency of the sport.
Since 2010, the FIA has stuck to a specific sliding scale. It’s pretty straightforward once you get the hang of it, but there are weird quirks that trip up even the hardcore fans.
The Standard Top 10 Payout
Winning is everything. Or at least, it’s worth a massive chunk of the pie. If you cross the line first, you bag 25 points. Second place gets 18. Third gets 15. You can see the drop-off is steep. The gap between first and second is seven points, which is huge when you realize the gap between ninth and tenth is only a single point.
The rest of the top ten looks like this: 12 points for fourth, 10 for fifth, 8 for sixth, 6 for seventh, 4 for eighth, 2 for ninth, and 1 for tenth. If you finish eleventh? You get nothing. Zip. You could drive the race of your life, hold off a faster car for 50 laps, but if you're outside that top ten, your scoreboard stays at zero. It’s brutal. This "all or nothing" wall at P10 is why you see backmarker teams like Haas or Williams getting so aggressive with strategy late in a race. They're desperate for that solitary point.
The Fastest Lap Gamble
Then there's the "purple lap." Since 2019, F1 reintroduced a point for the driver who sets the fastest lap of the race. But there’s a catch—and it’s a big one. You have to finish in the top ten to collect it.
If a driver in P12 sets the fastest lap, nobody gets the point. It just vanishes.
This creates some wild drama in the final three laps. Say Max Verstappen is leading by 20 seconds. He has a "free" pit stop. His team might bring him in for fresh soft tires just to snag that extra point. It’s a risk, though. One sticky wheel nut or a dropped jack, and he loses the lead. Usually, they only do it if the gap to second place is massive.
Sprints: The Saturday Points Scramble
F1 introduced Sprint races recently to spice up the weekend. These are shorter, 100km dashes on Saturdays. They don't pay out nearly as much as the main Grand Prix on Sunday, but for a championship fight, they are vital.
In a Sprint, only the top eight drivers score. The winner gets 8 points, second gets 7, and it counts down to 1 point for eighth place. It’s fast, there are no mandatory pit stops, and it’s basically a flat-out qualifying session where you actually get rewarded.
What Happens When Chaos Hits?
What if the heavens open up and the race is red-flagged? This is where the rulebook gets dense. After the "Spa 2021" debacle—where they did two laps behind a safety car and called it a race—the FIA changed the rules.
You don't get full points unless the leader has completed at least 75% of the scheduled race distance. If they stop between 50% and 75%, the points are reduced (19 for a win, 14 for second, etc.). If they barely get started (between two laps and 25% distance), the winner only gets 6 points. It’s a sliding scale designed to make sure points reflect the actual effort put in on track.
Why the Constructors’ Championship Matters More to Teams
While fans obsess over the Drivers' Championship, the teams are looking at the Constructors' standings. The points are the same, but they are cumulative for both cars. If Ferrari finishes 1st and 2nd, they get 43 points (25 + 18) in one afternoon.
At the end of the year, the position in the Constructors' standings dictates how much "column 2" prize money a team receives from FOM (Formula One Management). We’re talking about a difference of tens of millions of dollars between finishing 5th and 6th. This is why you’ll hear a team principal on the radio telling a driver to "hold position." They don't care who is ahead; they just need both cars to bring the points home safely.
The Cost of Success
Here is something most people don’t realize: points actually cost money. Every point a driver scores increases the entry fee their team has to pay the FIA for the following season.
For the 2024 season, the base entry fee was roughly $650,000, plus over $6,000 per point scored ($7,000+ for the winning constructor). When Red Bull crushed everyone in 2023, their entry fee for the next year was over $7 million. It’s a "success tax" that keeps the FIA running and theoretically helps balance the field, though the big teams just see it as a cost of doing business.
Tactical Reality
Basically, the points system forces a specific kind of bravery. If you're in P11 with five laps to go, you have zero reason to play it safe. You dive-bomb, you take the curb, you overheat the engine. Why? Because P11 is the same as P20 on the leaderboard.
👉 See also: F1 Race Results Today: What Really Happened with the 2026 Calendar and New Car Reveals
On the flip side, if you're in P9, you drive like there's a crate of eggs in the cockpit. You don't defend against a charging Mercedes or McLaren if it means risking a crash. You take your two points and go home.
Final Insights for the Fan
To really track the championship like an expert, don't just look at the total. Look at the "gap to leader" and the number of races left. With a maximum of 26 points available per weekend (25 for the win + 1 for fastest lap), a 52-point lead is effectively a "two-race buffer."
If a driver is more than 26 points ahead, they can literally crash out of the next race and still lead the championship. That's the magic number.
Next Steps for Performance Tracking
To see how these points actually impact the current season, you should check the official FIA "Classification" documents after a race weekend. They don't just show the points; they show the time penalties and technical infringements that often shuffle the points hours after the podium ceremony has finished. Also, keep an eye on the "Drop Score" history in older F1 seasons if you want to see how much more complicated this used to be—thankfully, today, every single race finish counts toward the final total.