Why aren’t F1 trophies given at the last race of the season?

In many sports the last event of the season sees the presentation of the trophy to the winner. At the Indy 500 the Borg-Warner trophy is given to the winner moments after they step out of the car, in the NFL the Lombardi Trophy – given to the winners of the Super Bowl – is presented to the winners on the field, while at the World Cup the trophy is given to the winning team moments after the final whistle is blown, but the Formula 1 trophy is never present at the final race of the season. Why is this? We find out.

Does the F1 world champion get a trophy?

While it’s not seen very often, the F1 world drivers champion does get a trophy – they just don’t get it presented to them at the final race of the season.

Do they get to keep them?

There are two types of trophies handed out to drivers and constructors. The trophies that you see handed out on the podium, to both the winning driver and team, are for that individual grand prix. One perhaps lesser-known fact is that the drivers don’t tend to keep the trophies they win. F1 teams will typically put a clause in a driver’s contract that states that the team get to keep the trophies that a driver wins, though drivers are either given (or can pay for) a replica of their trophy. This varies from team to team and driver to driver, though Red Bull famously have a two-storey wall of trophies in the foyer of their factory.

At the end of the season, however, the winning driver and constructors are presented with the official F1 world championship trophies – which they keep for the year before having to hand it back for the following year’s winners.

When are trophies given?

The World Drivers Championship Trophy is awarded at the annual FIA Prize-Giving Ceremony, which is a separate event to the final race. It commemorates various FIA-run events and series, including F1, presenting awards for a range of on and off-track actions. The final award of the event is the presentation of the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship. With the final race of the 2024 season in Abu Dhabi on the 8th December 2024, the FIA Prize-Giving ceremony will be held on the 13th December in Kigali, Rwanda.

Why do they do that?

The reason the trophy is handed out at a separate event is that, unlike with the World Cup or Super Bowl, there is always the outside chance that the result of the final race could change in the days after the event.

There have been multiple instances of drivers being…