How Does the Formula 1 Points System Work?

Scoring points in most professional sports is relatively straightforward: a puck enters a net, a basketball swishes through a hoop or a football gets carried into the endzone or kicked through the uprights. It’s also generally easy to track points throughout a game, and even the NHL’s point system for its standings — 2 points for a win or overtime/shootout win, 1 for an OT/shootout loss, and none for a regulation loss — is pretty simple to grasp.

In Formula 1 (F1) racing, however, things are a bit more convoluted. F1’s season, known as the Constructor’s Championship, operates on a points system that assigns different amounts of points to each driver depending on if and where they finish in the top 8 to 10 positions for each race, depending on the format.

That means a driver could earn 25 points for finishing first in one race, 10 for finishing fifth in another and none for failing to crack the top 10 in a third race for a total of 35 points. And, F1 is a team sport, with two drivers per team. So, both drivers have to make a top 10 finish to earn points for their team.

Confused yet? We’ll break down exactly how this works, so you always know how your favorite drivers or teams are doing during the 2025 F1 season.

Did you know you can watch Formula 1 all season long on DIRECTV?

How Do Points Work in F1?

Formula 1 features two types of races: the Grand Prix, which are the longer, more traditional races, and the Sprint, which is a shorter race. Each type of race has its own scoring rules, and if a race is shortened in either format, there’s a separate points structure for those instances.

Let’s take a look at how points are awarded in each format.

F1 Grand Prix Points Awarded per Race

Here’s how the scoring works for Grand Prix races:

F1 Sprint Points Awarded per Race

And here’s how the F1 points system works for the shorter Sprint races:

F1 Points Awarded for Shortened Races

Sometimes, a Formula 1 race is called off early. This can happen due to red flags being raised out of concern for driver safety or other flag stoppages, adverse weather, the race’s time limit being reached or other special circumstances.

In those cases, drivers are sometimes awarded half points as long as race has completed at least 75% of its scheduled distance.

Fastest Lap Points

Any driver who finishes in the top 10 and posts the fastest time for a single lap during the race gets a shiny extra point.

What About Disqualifications and Penalties?

Sometimes, drivers are disqualified from competition for breaking one or more of F1’s myriad rules. Being disqualified means a driver’s points from a race won’t count toward their team’s season standings.

This recently happened to Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles LeClerc, two of the sport’s most famous drivers, during the China Grand Prix.

How Does the F1 Constructor’s Championship Work?

Winning the Constructor’s Championship title is one of two ultimate prizes in Formula 1 racing, the other being the Driver’s Championship. Both have the same goal: earn the most points throughout the season. The Constructor’s Championship is award to the top team based on total team points, while the Driver’s Championship is awarded to the top driver with the most individual driver points.

One distinction: the Constructor’s Championship points are awarded by the car, not by the driver. Each team is allowed to use up to four different drivers throughout a season. All of the drivers’ total points count towards the title.

Teams will often build their entire race strategy around gaining the most points, and drivers will sometimes sacrifice their own higher finish to ensure their teammate has the best shot at scoring the most points.

Slower drivers often step aside for their quicker teammate or defend against rival drivers to maximize the team’s overall result. In extreme situations, a driver may even sacrifice their race to block competitors and protect a teammate’s position.

As the season progresses, teams often channel upgrades toward the stronger performer to sustain their championship push. Sprint races, too, demand a careful balance between aggression and caution, given the added stakes.

Why do teams care so much about racking up Constructor’s Championship points? Because that’s how they earn their portion of the significant sum of prize money that Formula 1 awards each season.

What If There’s a Tie at the End of the F1 season?

Sometimes, two or more teams will score the same number of points across the F1 season. If this happens, the teams are ranked based on their race results: the team with the most first place finishes come out on top, and the tiebreaking continues for second-, third- and fourth place finishes and so on until one team emerges on top.

What If a Driver Changes Teams Mid-Season?

In Formula 1, drivers keep all points they score for the Drivers’ Championship, while teams retain points earned for the Constructors’ standings.

In 2024, Ollie Bearman scored seven points for Ferrari before later racing for Haas, with his points remaining part of Ferrari’s total. And when Max Verstappen, one of the top racers in F1 and last year’s champion, moved from Toro Rosso to Red Bull Racing in 2016, Toro Rosso kept the points he earned before his switch.

Has Any Team Ever Scored Zero Points in an F1 Season?

Yep. If a team doesn’t finish in the top 10 with either of its cars at any point during the season, it’s a glaring “0” for them on the leaderboard.

The most recent example of that happened in 2014, when Sauber and Caterham both failed to earn a single point. Sauber came out on top due to having two 11th place finishes.

Current Formula 1 Standings

So how are the F1 teams and drivers doing so far this season?

Here are the current points total for the Formula 1 teams and drivers.

Constructor’s Championship Standings (as of April 10, 2025)

Driver’s Championship Standings (as of April 10, 2025)

Watch Formula 1 on DIRECTV

Don’t miss out on all of the action on the track during the year’s Formula 1 races.

Get the full F1 2025 Schedule right here!

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