Five years on, should F1 scrap, keep or tweak the fastest lap point? · RaceFans

When the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council first floated the idea of awarding a new bonus point for the driver who sets the fastest lap in a grand prix, RaceFans asked you how you felt about the idea.

Two-thirds of you either slightly or strongly disagreed with the idea, with just 25% either slightly or strongly agreeing with the idea of giving a bonus point to the driver who sets the fastest lap in the race.

However, the FIA apparently did not take the thoughts of RaceFans readers into account as they promptly approved the proposal and introduced the point for fastest lap for the start of that season. During that year’s summer break, RaceFans asked you what you felt of the rule after 12 rounds to judge it. This time, just under half of you believed the bonus point had not made the racing more exciting, while 36% of you agreed, to some degree, that it had.

But now, after five-and-a-half seasons in the sport, the fastest lap has been brought back under the spotlight once again. Last weekend in Singapore, Daniel Ricciardo was called in to the pits in the closing laps of the race to fit almost-new soft tyres and snatch the fastest lap from race leader Lando Norris. Although RB team principal Laurent Mekies insisted after the race it had purely been a goodwill gesture to their departing driver – despite zero recognition over the rest of the weekend that this could be Ricciardo’s last grand prix – the fact that Ricciardo denied Norris a point in his pursuit of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen rubbed many fans the wrong way.

So with the fastest lap bonus point generating plenty of discussion once more, it’s as good a time as any to see how you, the fans, feel about this element of the sport.

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F1’s approach

Formula 1’s current fastest lap rule remains the same as it was when first introduced before the start of the 2019 season. Article 6.2 of F1’s sporting regulations states that “one point will be awarded to the driver who achieved the fastest valid lap time of the race and to the constructor whose car he was driving, provided he was in the top ten positions of the final race classification”.

The rule also clarifies that “no point will be awarded if the fastest valid lap time is achieved by a driver who was classified outside the top ten positions, or if the leader has completed less than 50% of the scheduled race distance.”.

So far in 2024, there have been 14 fastest lap bonus points…