As of the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix, 357 drivers have scored Drivers' Championship points, and 74 out of 172 teams have scored Constructors' Championship points, in 1,152 World Championship races. Lewis Hamilton has the highest Drivers' Championship points total with 5059.5, Max Verstappen is second with 3456.5 and Sebastian Vettel is third with 3098. Scuderia Ferrari holds the record for the highest Constructors' Championship points total with 10812, Red Bull Racing is second with 8304, and Mercedes is third with 8294.5. Drivers received an equal points distribution share if they shared a car with another or set the same fastest lap as another between 1950 and 1957. Second drivers of teams who officially entered only one car were ineligible for points on two occasions involving three drivers.
The points scoring has been changed several times throughout F1 history. Participants in every season until 1990 could only achieve Drivers' Championship points for their best-placed finishes in a specified maximum number of races. Up until 1979, most years saw only the highest-scoring participant in each Grand Prix for each constructor contributing points towards the Constructors' title. From 1950 to 1959, the top five finishers of each race plus the fastest lap setter tallied points. The format was expanded to include the first six finishers of each event between 1960 and 2002 but with no point for fastest lap. In 2003, the FIA revised the structure to the top eight finishers of each race. The FIA extended the system again to include the first ten Grand Prix finishers in 2010. Each Grand Prix winner tallied 8 points from 1950 to 1960, 9 from 1961 to 1990, 10 between 1991 and 2009, and 25 since 2010.
Half points were awarded for six Grands Prix that were red-flagged before a certain threshold in a race progression was reached (at different times being either 60% or 75% of the scheduled race distance); starting from around 1977 to 1980 until the end of the 2021 season, no points were able to be accumulated should a race conclude early with the leader having completed two or fewer laps. Following the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix in which half points were awarded to the first ten finishers despite no racing laps being completed, the standards by which a driver can tally championship points should a Grand Prix be suspended before full distance is covered and not be restarted, were changed to a gradual scale system beginning in 2022. No points are awarded unless the race leader completes two or more racing laps without the intervention of a safety car or virtual safety car. Only the top five finishers are eligible for championship points if the race leader completes more than two racing laps but covers less than 25% of the race distance. That switches to the top nine places should the race leader complete between 25% and 50% of race distance. If the race leader covers between 50% and 75% of race distance then participants finishing in the top ten positions tally points. Full championship points are tallied should the race leader complete 75% or more of the scheduled race distance. Following initial confusion over how points were awarded at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix, the FIA clarified the drivers are also eligible for full points if the race finishes under green flag conditions regardless of the percentage of the scheduled race distance that has been covered. In 2023, the FIA clarified that shortened races would be subject to the gradual scale system "if the race distance from the start signal to the end-of-session signal is less than the scheduled race distance."
Sprint qualifying was introduced in 2021 to set the starting order at three Grands Prix that season and the top three finishers of each of these mini-races received points. The first eight drivers were awarded points in three sprint races in 2022, and in six sprint races in 2023.
The fastest lap bonus point was re-introduced in 2019, however only drivers and constructors who finished in the top ten are eligible to score the point. From 2022, the fastest lap point is only awarded if 50% or more of the scheduled race distance is completed. The FIA abolished the fastest lap point rule for the 2025 season onwards. Unlike various other motor racing series, F1 has never awarded bonus points to drivers for leading the most laps (e.g., the IndyCar Series) or qualifying on pole position (e.g., the F1 feeder series, such as Formula 2 and Formula 3).
Jim Clark is the only driver to score maximum points in a season, claiming 54 points in both 1963 and 1965, when only the best six results counted towards the championship—Clark won seven and six Grands Prix, respectively. More recently, Michael Schumacher finished on the podium in every race in the 2002 season, earning 144 of a possible 170 points (84.70%). Max Verstappen set numerous points-related records in his 2023 campaign, scoring a record 575 of 620 available (92.74%), which eclipsed his previous numerical record of 454 from 2022. The most dominant World Constructors' Champion in recent times was McLaren in 1988, scoring 199 of a maximum 240 points and finishing 134 points ahead of its nearest rival. In 2002, Ferrari scored 221 points, as many as all the other teams combined.
Robert Kubica has the longest time between two successive points-scoring results: 8 years and 256 days (between the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the 2019 German Grand Prix). Fernando Alonso has the longest time between his first and last points-scoring results: he scored his first points in the 2003 Australian Grand Prix and his most recent at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a span of 22 years, 8 months, and 28 days. Hamilton holds the record for most consecutive points-scoring results at 48 Grands Prix: from the 2018 British Grand Prix to the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix. Max Verstappen is the youngest driver to score a championship point; he finished seventh at the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix when he was 17 years and 180 days old. Philippe Étancelin is the oldest driver to score a championship point; he was 53 years and 249 days old when he finished fifth at the 1950 Italian Grand Prix.
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