How Does Scoring Work in F1?

F1 drivers aren't just driving for ending up at the best positions. And the Formula One World Championship isn't just decided based who on won the most number of races throughout the year. There is a proper system in place for scoring in Formula One and teams have to devise their strategies around it. Winning is not everything always, for many a time, drivers are asked to sacrifice their positions so their teammates who may have better chances of winning the championship can get more points.

Take for instance the thrilling 2021 season. Both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were winning and losing races all season. At many points, their respective teammates Sergio Perez and Valterri Bottas were asked to slow down and let them pass so they'd have better chances at the championship. All these decisions were made based on where both the drivers stood on the points table during those very races. Today, we're going to be explaining to you how this scoring works in F1.

How the season works

Each Formula One season starts with the first race of the year, which usually takes place in March. The season tends to go on until the end of the year. Throughout this duration, around 23 races take place at circuits spread all across all the continents, except Antarctica. In those races, drivers earn points based on what position they finish the races at. Those points keep getting added to their tallies and the one with the most points at the end of the season wins the prestigious Formula One World Championship.

Last year, before the start of the final Grand Prix of the year, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were both tied at 369.5 points. This meant that no matter what their position, both drivers just had to finish ahead of one another to win the championship. But the story turned out to be altogether different, as we all know. This meant that Max Verstappen won his first Formula One World Championship, depriving Hamilton of his record-breaking eighth. Let's see how this came to be.

How do the points work?

Over the years, the points system in Formula One has kept changing but we're going to tell you what it is going to be like in the upcoming 2022 season. In any main race, only the 10 best-placed drivers are awarded points. Those finishing behind them get nothing.

The driver to finish first is awarded 25 points, the one who finishes second gets 18, and the one who comes in third gets 15. Those who finish fourth, fifth, and sixth get 12, 10, and 8 points, respectively, while those finishing seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth, get 6, 4, 2 and 1 points, respectively. Apart from that, any driver who sets the fastest lap of the race gets an additional point as long as they finish in the top 10.

A completely new aspect of F1 that was piloted in 2021 was Sprint qualifying. The usual qualifying was replaced with a short race that decided the grid positions for the final race. In the three instances where this system was tried out last year, the top three finishers of the sprint race were awarded three, two and one points based on their positions.

Those are all the scoring rules of Formula One that you need to know about ahead of the much-awaited 2022 season.