Formula 1 has revealed why it will no longer reward the driver who sets the fastest lap inside the top 10 with a bonus point for the 2025 season.
The FIA and Formula One Management decided to revert to the previous points system back in October.
The fastest lap bonus point had been in place since 2019, in an attempt to spice up the racing towards the end of a grand prix.
However, it often went to the winning driver with an unassailable lead or a driver inside the top five with a pit stop gap behind them.
A lot of the time, it went to a driver outside the top 10 as a result of pitting late or to benefit the team by stealing the point from a competitor in the championship.
An example of this was at last season’s Singapore Grand Prix when Daniel Ricciardo, in the Red Bull-owned RB, stole the bonus point off Max Verstappen’s championship rival Lando Norris.
Months after announcing the rule’s abandonment, F1 has finally explained why it made this significant choice.
“Since 2019, a driver finishing in the top 10 could earn a bonus point by setting the fastest lap of the race,” F1 stated on its official website.
“Sometimes that meant drivers would still be pushing late on trying to take the accolade, or even make late pit stops for fresh rubber to increase their return.
“But it also opened up the possibility for a car outside the top 10 to pit and take the point away from another driver, even if they weren’t going to score themselves.
“And with the bonus sometimes proving a controversial topic, the decision was taken to remove it from the scoring system this year.”
F1 drivers and teams reaction
McLaren CEO Zak Brown was left irked by Red Bull’s ‘alleged ploy’ to steal the point off Norris with its sister team driver Ricciardo.
“That’s a nice A/B team sporting thing that I didn’t think was allowed,” Brown told SiriusXM.
“But hey, that’s not the first time we’ve seen it, probably won’t be the last.”
Following the announcement of the removal of the bonus point, the reaction from the F1 paddock was largely positive.
Mercedes driver George Russell echoed the opinion of his fellow competitors that the extra point will not be missed.
“I always thought the point for fastest lap was a bit pointless,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“It would always be the driver who was having a tough race in the top-10 who would put new tyres on and gain the extra point.
“I never really saw the benefit of that. I’m glad to see that’s gone.”
Despite the removal of the rule in F1, it will continue to be used in the FIA’s junior categories Formula 2 and Formula 3 for the foreseeable future.
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