Guide
The F1 points system explained
How Formula 1 itself awards championship points, and how that differs from the way a prediction game scores you.
Grand Prix points
Championship points in Formula 1 go to the top ten finishers in a Grand Prix, on a sliding scale that rewards winning far more than it rewards a solid points finish. The gap between first and second is deliberately large, which is why a driver with more wins can lead a championship over a rival who finishes second more often.
- 1st
- 25 points
- 2nd
- 18 points
- 3rd
- 15 points
- 4th
- 12 points
- 5th
- 10 points
- 6th
- 8 points
- 7th
- 6 points
- 8th
- 4 points
- 9th
- 2 points
- 10th
- 1 point
Sprint points
Sprints award a smaller set of points to the leading finishers, on a much shallower scale than a Grand Prix. The intent is to make the sprint worth contesting without letting it distort the championship, so winning a sprint is worth meaningfully less than winning a Grand Prix.
Only the top eight score, rather than the top ten, and the gap between winning and finishing second is a single point rather than seven.
Sprint points count towards both championships in exactly the same way as Grand Prix points. They are simply added to the total.
- 1st
- 8 points
- 2nd
- 7 points
- 3rd
- 6 points
- 4th
- 5 points
- 5th
- 4 points
- 6th
- 3 points
- 7th
- 2 points
- 8th
- 1 point
Two championships, one set of results
Every point a driver scores counts twice: once towards the drivers championship, and once towards their team constructors total. A team constructors score is the sum of what both of its drivers score, which is why a team with two consistently strong drivers can out-score a team with one exceptional driver and one struggling one.
This is also why teams sometimes make decisions that look strange from a single driver perspective. Protecting a constructors position is worth real money in prize distribution, and it can outweigh an individual driver interest late in a season.
Ties and classification
When two drivers finish a season on the same number of points, the tie is broken by countback: whoever has more wins takes the higher position. If they are still level, it goes to the count of second places, then third, and so on until the tie resolves.
A driver must also be classified to score. In practice that means completing enough of the race distance, so a car that retires very late can still be classified and can still score, while an early retirement cannot.
How this differs from predicting
It is worth being clear that Formula 1 championship points and Grand Prix Picks points are entirely separate systems. F1 rewards where a driver finishes. A prediction game rewards how accurately you called it.
That distinction matters when you are choosing picks. Backing the championship leader in every slot is not a strategy, because you are not scored on how good your drivers are. You are scored on how close your predicted order is to the real one, which means the interesting decisions are almost always in positions three to five rather than at the front.
Common questions
- How many points is an F1 win worth?
- Winning a Grand Prix is worth 25 points. Winning a sprint is worth 8.
- How many drivers score points in a Formula 1 race?
- The top ten finishers score in a Grand Prix, from 25 points for the win down to a single point for tenth. A sprint pays the top eight, from 8 points down to 1.
- Do sprint points count towards the championship?
- Yes. Sprint points are added to the same drivers and constructors totals as Grand Prix points. There is no separate sprint championship.
- What happens if two drivers finish the season on the same points?
- The tie is broken by countback. Whoever has more wins is placed ahead, and if they are still level it goes to the count of second places, then third places, until the tie resolves.
- Are Grand Prix Picks points the same as F1 championship points?
- No. Formula 1 rewards where a driver finishes. Grand Prix Picks rewards how accurately you predicted the finishing order, so the two totals are unrelated.