How Does the F1 Points System Work?
"P4, that's a good haul" doesn't mean much on team radio unless you know the scale behind it. Here's exactly how many points each finishing position is worth, how sprint weekends change the math, and how a team's two cars combine into one constructors' total.
F1 Points by the Numbers
- 25 points: what a Grand Prix win is worth — the top of the 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 race scale.
- 10 positions: how far down the points go in a race; P11 and below score zero.
- 8 points: what a sprint race win is worth, on a shorter 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale that only pays the top eight.
- 6 sprint weekends: on the 2026 calendar — Shanghai, Miami, Montreal, Silverstone, Zandvoort and Singapore.
- 33 points: the maximum a single driver can score in one weekend (25 from the grand prix, 8 from the sprint).
- 2 points: the margin between 2025 champion Lando Norris (423) and runner-up Max Verstappen (421) — one of the closest title fights in years.
Race Points, Position by Position
The current Formula 1 points scale has run unchanged since 2010, when it replaced the old 10-6-4-3-2-1 system that only paid the top six. Every finishing position from 1st to 10th earns points; everything from 11th on down earns nothing, no matter how strong the drive.
| Finishing Position | Race Points | Sprint Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 25 | 8 |
| 2nd | 18 | 7 |
| 3rd | 15 | 6 |
| 4th | 12 | 5 |
| 5th | 10 | 4 |
| 6th | 8 | 3 |
| 7th | 6 | 2 |
| 8th | 4 | 1 |
| 9th | 2 | — |
| 10th | 1 | — |
| 11th or lower | 0 | 0 |
Only classified finishers score. A car that retires still counts as "classified" for points if it completed at least 90 percent of the race distance, but anything less and that grid slot's points simply aren't awarded to anyone.
Sprint Points Work on a Shorter Scale
Sprint weekends compress an entire points-scoring race into roughly 100km on Saturday, ahead of Sunday's full grand prix. The sprint scale only rewards the top eight, on an 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 curve — finish 9th in a sprint and, unlike the main race, there is no consolation point for showing up. The 2026 calendar carries six sprint weekends: Shanghai, Miami, Montreal, Silverstone, Zandvoort and Singapore. Because both sessions that weekend pay points, a driver who wins both the sprint and the grand prix at one of those six events walks away with 33 points from a single weekend — nearly a full "double points" haul compared with a normal non-sprint round.
How the Constructors' Championship Adds Up
There is no separate points scale for teams. A constructor's championship total is just its two drivers' race and sprint points added together across the season — nothing more complicated than that. That is why a team principal will often ask a leading driver to let a struggling teammate through late in a race: every point the second car scores adds directly to the same constructors' total the lead driver is also building. Constructors' standings matter well beyond bragging rights too, since a team's final position determines its share of Formula 1's prize-money pool for the following season, which is a big part of why teams push both cars all the way to the finish rather than parking a car once the lead driver's points are secure.
What Happened to the Fastest-Lap Bonus Point
Between 2019 and 2024, F1 awarded one bonus point to whichever driver set the race's fastest lap — but only if that driver also finished in the top ten, a rule added specifically to stop backmarkers pitting late for fresh tires just to steal the point with nothing to lose. It was a small but occasionally title-deciding wrinkle. From the 2025 season onward, the fastest-lap bonus point was scrapped entirely, so today a driver's points come purely from where they cross the finish line in the race and, on six weekends a year, the sprint.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many points does an F1 race winner get?
25 points. The full grand prix scale pays 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 to the top ten finishers; anyone P11 or lower scores zero.
How many points does a sprint race winner get?
8 points. Sprint races use a shorter 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale that only pays the top eight finishers, and only apply on the six sprint weekends on the 2026 calendar.
Do constructors get separate points from drivers?
No. A team's constructors' championship total is simply the sum of both of its drivers' race and sprint points across the season — there is no separate constructors' points scale.
Is there still a bonus point for the fastest lap?
No. The fastest-lap bonus point, which ran from 2019 through 2024 and required a top-10 finish to claim, was abolished starting with the 2025 season.
The Bottom Line
The scale itself is simple — 25 down to 1 across the top ten, 8 down to 1 for a sprint's top eight — but it's unforgiving in a way lap times alone never show: 2025 champion Lando Norris beat Max Verstappen to the title by just 2 points, 423 to 421, out of a season that handed out well over a thousand points combined. If you want to see exactly what that kind of margin is worth in real terms, our breakdown of how much F1 drivers actually make shows how contract-year points totals translate into next year's paycheck. A single caution period can easily swing a margin that tight — see our Virtual Safety Car explainer for how race control tries to protect a lead without a full Safety Car.
Browse our guides to the best sim racing wheels and best direct-drive wheels next if you want to chase your own points battles at home, or head over to the team radio archive to hear a driver find out their finishing position in real time. Curious exactly how a sprint weekend's extra qualifying session sets that Saturday grid in the first place? Our Sprint Qualifying explainer breaks down the format round by round. And if a driver retires before the flag, our DNF explainer covers exactly when a retirement still counts for points. Points aren't the only thing fans decide, either — see our F1 Driver of the Day explainer for the award that's voted purely on performance, not the scoreboard.