F1 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.
I personally enjoyed the extra little fun of the bonus point. But alas.
“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.”
…
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.
fastest lap outside the top 10 doesn’t bother me but what I think this does is eliminate the team orders of stopping someone (for example someone like oh I don’t know, perez) who’s on a heater stealing the point away from their teammate (like, dunno just pulling a name, verstappen) when the wdc is still being contested.
it’s being killed because team orders rules everything in f1 and drivers can’t just drive hard (without wrecking the other car).
Point for fastest lap for any driver in the race would have been the easiest solution. Gives drivers lower in the field a chance for a point and could make both ends of the table exciting come the end of the season.
Yeah. Could have simply made it a point for fastest lap period, no matter if you’re in the top 10 or outside of it.
I think it’s a bad idea to give points for things that don’t matter in a race. Highest speed trap, fastest single lap, coolest livery, most spicy team radio, fan favorite overtake, dotd.
They’re in a race and they should get points for doing the race well. They shouldn’t “fix” the randomness of motorsports by letting unlucky but fast cars+drivers still get points for this or that.
I did like the extra… strategy that can be applied to the gaps between cars though. Instead of just driving to the end with nobody in front or behind, it added a dimension. But a kinda gamey one.
Because nascar finally added it back in and they wanna feel different.
And the fastest lap goes back to literally and figuratively being pointless. lol
How dare you have fun!
Because Red Bull was able to occasionally use Toro VCARB Minardi whatever to take the point from their competitors
