The scoring system
Grand Prix points pay the top ten: 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1. Sprint races pay the top eight: 8 down to 1. Both drivers' hauls combine for the Constructors' Championship, so a team maxes out at 43 points per Grand Prix with a one-two finish.
The bonus point for fastest lap was dropped after 2024 — lap records are now for glory only.
The gaps are the game
The jump from P1 to P2 (7 points) is bigger than from P2 to P3 (3 points). This asymmetry shapes behavior: winning matters disproportionately, and a driver defending second from third may take fewer risks than one chasing a win.
For teams, the difference between P10 and P11 in the constructors' standings is worth tens of millions in prize money — which is why backmarker teams celebrate a single point like a podium.
Special cases and tiebreakers
If a race is stopped and can't resume, points scale with distance completed: no points under two laps, then reduced scales (roughly quarter, half, three-quarter) until 75% distance unlocks full points. This rule was born at Spa 2021, where 'a race' of one lap behind the safety car paid half points.
Championship ties are broken by countback: most wins, then most seconds, and so on. Titles have been decided this way — most famously in 1984 when Lauda beat Prost by half a point.