Abolition of the fastest lap point from 2025 onwards
Introduced in 2019, the fastest lap point will disappear at the end of the season. The drivers won't regret it.
Three weeks ago, Formula 1 left Singapore in the midst of controversy over Daniel Ricciardo’s final lap in F1. At the bottom of the race, the Australian had then made a pit stop to go for the fastest lap. It didn’t earn anything for the VCARB driver since he was outside the top 10, but it deprived Lando Norris of that valuable point in his championship battle against Red Bull and Max Verstappen.
During the FIA World Council, it was therefore decided not to award this point on the grounds that the governing body has just realized that having the same owner for two Formula 1 teams could present a competitive advantage in this kind of situations… Better late than never.
Interviewed on the subject during the FIA press conference on Thursday, the drivers did not show much sorrow at his disappearance. Carlos Sainz summarized the general opinion: “This point was not necessary because it often goes to whoever has a free pit stop on the penultimate lap of the race. It does not reward the fastest driver but rather is more about luck or racing incidents.”
On the contrary, drivers would like the pole position to be rewarded now since it is the moment of the weekend when they get closest to the limits of their single-seaters’ capabilities and they must make no mistakes to be the fastest. However, the Spanish driver pointed out that such a system would be interesting in a tight pack and not when it’s always the same driver.
If we take the example of the current season, Max Verstappen would have collected eight points, Lando Norris five, Charles Leclerc three and George Russell two. Conversely, 10 drivers have scored the point for the fastest lap in the race, with Lando Norris having gained four while Max Verstappen only has two. In the end, the British driver would have lost five points if the systems had been exchanged.
From our special correspondent in Austin
