Formula 1’s teams along with the FIA and Formula One Management (FOM) are set to discuss a revised points structure to allocate points to the top 12 scorers.
Motorsport.com reports that conversations were held last week to change up how points are awarded, with the F1 Commission set to discuss the matter further.
The call to increase points-scoring opportunities from 10 positions to 12 comes amid the pace differential between the top-five teams of Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Aston Martin and the bottom five teams of RB, Haas, Williams, Alpine and Sauber.
Without outlier performances or retirements, the top five teams based purely on pace can lock out the top-10 points positions – as was the case in the season opener in Bahrain.
Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner admitted to Motorsport.com “It feels like there are two groups in Formula 1 at the moment, and the teams from six to 10 are in as hard a fight as one to five.”
When extraordinary circumstances intervene, such as Lance Stroll’s Safety Car restart blunder at Shanghai, one points scoring position opens up for the bottom five teams to fight over, which in this instance was snatched up by Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg, who said the team had “to have a perfect qualifying on Saturday and a perfect race on Sunday to be able to be where we are today. We couldn’t have done much more. One point, in our world, is a lot!”
After the opening five rounds, sixth-placed RB sits on 7 points, 33 adrift of fifth-placed Aston Martin and three teams are yet to score (Williams, Alpine and Sauber).
The proposed new points structure is a sliding scale of 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 for first through 12th, whereas the current system is 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1.
This is a far cry from points scoring from previous seasons, when between 2003 and 2009 the top eight were afforded points in races, extended from the top six.
The proposed 2025 system would see over half of the grid score points, but Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur supports the move but admits it needs scrutiny.
“In favour, I’m not against,” Vasseur told Motorsport.com.
“And coming from Alfa Romeo, I perfectly understand that sometimes, the frustration that sometimes you are doing a mega weekend, if there is no DNF in front of you, you finish P11, and the reward is zero.
“You can finish P11 or P20, it’s the same, and I can understand the frustration for this. Now if you do this, and next year you have six teams in front, you would say it’s the same for P13, but you have to pay attention. I’m not against.”
RB has been one of the most successful midfield outfits to snatch up points when offered, with Yuki Tsunoda finishing seventh in Australia and 10th in Japan to score the team’s seven points thus far.
Team Principal Laurent Mekkies understandably supports the proposed new points system.
“There are no backmarkers any more,” he said.
“There are six OEMs in F1, plus Red Bull Racing, so it’s like seven top teams.”
Mekkies argued that “Even the bottom five teams are large organisations now” and his acknowledgement of six OEMs is set to grow to seven in 2026 with the arrival of Audi.
“It’s very difficult to explain to the outside world, to our partners, and to our fans, that we battle for a P11 that actually grants zero points,” he continued.
“We also think it’s more meritocratic because, if you score points up until P12, you will avoid the effect where if something completely stunning happens and somebody scores a P5 or P4 in the rain, it means the other guys can stay home for 10 races.”
Haas Team Principal Ayoa Komatsu asked: “What’s the downside?”
“Currently, we have three teams with zero points and I don’t think that’s good for sport.”
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