Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
F1 Commission drops plan to expand F1 points system
A plan to expand the points system in Formula 1 beyond the top 10 finishers in a grand prix has been dropped following a meeting of the F1 Commission.
The proposal was lodged earlier this year to pay out points to at least the top 12 drivers, with the intention of offering a greater incentive to midfield teams who might struggle to break into the top 10. Having more point-paying positions would have both given more meaning to individual battles during a race but also made it more clear how teams were ranked come the end of the season due to teams being less likely to finish on equal scores or zero points.
However, following further investigations, a meeting of the Formula 1 Commission in London saw it “unanimously agreed that there would be no changes to the distribution of championship points."
Much of the meeting focused on the 2026 regulations, with an update provided on the progress of the regulations following team feedback. Further meetings of F1’s technical and sporting advisory committees will go into more detail before an extraordinary F1 Commission meeting will be called on October 2 to discuss 2026 matters before the World Motor Sport Council meets on October 17.
Due to the significant changes in regulations, it was agreed that pre-season testing in 2026 will consist of nine days of running in total, split across three pre-season tests. Currently there is only one three-day test during pre-season.
A small change to the minimum driver weight in 2025 – increased by 2kg to 82kg for reasons of driver welfare – was also confirmed.
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
Read Chris Medland's articles
Latest News
Comments
Comments are disabled until you accept Social Networking Cookies. Update cookie preferences
If the dialog doesn't appear, ad-blockers are often the cause; try disabling yours or see our Social Features Support.