The extra point for fastest lap will make a “big difference” in this year’s Formula 1 title battle, according to current championship leader Valtteri Bottas, who took the maximum 26 points from the season-opening event.
Formula 1 chiefs confirmed during the run-up to the Australian Grand Prix that one point will be awarded at each event to the top 10 finisher who sets the fastest lap of the race.
In Australia it added an intrigue to the closing stages of a race in which the top three positions were ostensibly already decided.
Dominant race leader Bottas ultimately claimed the additional point, meaning he holds an eight-point lead over Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton heading to Bahrain.
It is the first time since 1959 that Formula 1 has awarded a bonus point.
The gulf between the leading trio of teams and the remainder of the grid is such that the fastest lap is likely to be contested by representatives from Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
In 2018 only once did a midfield driver set the race’s fastest lap, when Kevin Magnussen’s off-set strategy in Singapore gave him fresher and softer tyres for the closing stages.
“Obviously it’s a point and if you get three of those or more it’s going to make a big difference at the end of the year,” said Bottas
“One point can make a difference in the end.
“For sure we’re willing to risk but still knowing that if you’re about to get 20 or 18 points or 15, whatever, they are still more important than getting one extra so you need to calculate the risk.”
Added Hamilton: “It’s 21 points so we’re going to fight for them.”
Bottas last year set seven fastest laps – and those additional points, had they been on offer, would have elevated him from fifth to third in the final standings.
The last time Formula 1’s title was decided by fewer than 21 points – or the 42 points that the differential potentially provides – was in 2016, when Nico Rosberg edged Hamilton by five points.
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