How the Formula 1 championship points work

Checked 20 October 2026Valid for: the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship under 2026 Formula 1 Regulations, Section A: General Regulatory Provisions, Issue 03, 25 June 2026, Article A2. Official source: fia.com. Not covered: other series (Formula 2, Formula 3, MotoGP, WRC, endurance, Formula E, karting), which have their own points; the FIA Super Licence points.

Formula 1 has no rolling world ranking. Each season there are two championships:

the Drivers' Championship, won by the driver with the most points over the season;
the Constructors' Championship, won by the team with the most points from both its cars.

At every Grand Prix the top 10 finishers score:

Place	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

At weekends with a Sprint, the Sprint also gives points to the top 8: 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Everything resets at the start of the next season.

Shortened races

If a race is stopped early, the points depend on how much of the planned distance the leader completed:

Place	At least 2 laps	25% or more	50% or more	75% or more (full points)
1	6	13	19	25
2	4	10	14	18
3	3	8	12	15
4	2	6	10	12
5	1	5	8	10
6		4	6	8
7		3	4	6
8		2	3	4
9		1	2	2
10			1	1

No points at all unless the leader has completed at least two full laps in a row without a Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car.

A Sprint gives points only if the leader completed at least half its planned distance (and the same two green laps).

Ties

Two cars tied for the same place in a race share the combined points equally.

If two drivers or teams finish the season level on points, the one with more wins goes higher; then more second places, then more thirds and so on. If that still fails, the same count is done on qualifying results.

The season

The championship has between 8 and 24 events, with at most 24 cars (two per team). Only events that took place count.

A worked example

Made up to show the arithmetic. At a Sprint weekend a team's two drivers finish the Sprint 2nd and 6th (7 + 3) and the race 1st and 9th (25 + 2). The team scores 7 + 3 + 25 + 2 = 37 constructors' points; the drivers score 32 and 5.

Variations

Championship	Covered here
F1 Drivers' and Constructors'	Yes (2026)
Formula 2, Formula 3, F1 Academy, MotoGP, WRC, Formula E	No