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⌚ F1 2022: A way to make the fastest lap point more challenging

The prize for Formula 1’s fastest lap is an extra point per race - but maybe that should change. 

(c) Scuderia Ferrari on Twitter

They’re not alone in offering an incentive for that, and fans watching on TV get something extra to follow in seeing who consistently sets the benchmark over the course of the race - for a casual viewer, it’s a nice way to see who has momentum on their side. It also makes for an interesting bit of late-race strategy if drivers have a pit stop in hand, for example, they might dive into the pits for the softest tyres available and fly round, grabbing that extra point. 

It’s one of the simplest, yet most effective rule changes F1 have brought in in recent years, being brought in at the start of the 2019 season. 

But is it working? 

Since the point was brought in, it’s been won by the race winner the most amount of times, a purple-sectored cherry on top of an already perfect result. It doesn’t get much better, with second taking the second-most etc. It feels somewhat unnecessary, and in an example that illustrates it nicely, four of the five F1 races so far in 2022 have given their extra points to the race winner (Charles Leclerc taking the point in Saudi, as well as second). 

What we have seen is teams pitting their drivers late to claim the prize, if not to win the point, but to prevent their rivals getting it. Drivers only get awarded the point if they finish in the top 10, so it’s a lost point if that happens. This was taken to extremes twice in 2021, with Red Bull pitting Sergio Perez at Silverstone. The Mexican driver was the only Bull left in the race with Lewis Hamilton charging through the field and ultimately taking the win. Red Bull pitted him late and put him out in clear air, finishing ultimately in 16th, but claiming fastest lap. It was a crucial point taken away from Mercedes.

  
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Similarly, in Mexico, Valtteri Bottas was sacrificed, being pitted twice in an attempt to wrest that point away from Max Verstappen. They had to pit him twice because the first time around, it was Verstappen ahead of him, meaning the race leader was able to use blue flags to his advantage. This time, it was a crucial point taken away from Red Bull as their battle intensified. 

And in a comedic example in Zandvoort, Bottas AND Hamilton took late pit stops to get the point, but Bottas was politely asked not to, as they wanted to reserve the point for the title contender. It worked out that way, but not without one casually laughable moment.

But, as you can see in the video above, it’s a sponsored feature of the race and gives fans something to talk about. I’m not advocating that it gets scrapped. But perhaps there are one or two tweaks that could be applied to ensure that it’s a bit more exciting. 

One idea could be to carry over the point if it’s not given out for those extreme examples above, so the next race it’s worth two points etc. Putting that extra jeopardy would push teams to try and fight another day by winning that fastest lap point lower down the grid and trying to take it the next time around. The other idea is to make the point a race-long contest. 

Instead of having one or two drivers trying to win the award, sometimes with a late pitstop, award it to the driver who gets the most fastest laps over the course of the race. This way, it would go to the driver who is consistently fastest - not necessarily the driver in the lead, although I accept that’s probably going to be the case. The other big advantage of this rule change is that teams and fans can track who has the most and can adjust their strategies accordingly.

One of the most amazing performances in F1 history was Michael Schumacher in Hungary during the 1998 season. Asked to drive 19 qualifying laps in a row by his Ferrari team, the German legend managed it, overhauling the McLaren pair at the Hungaroring - a track notoriously difficult to overtake at. 

If a driver is a few laps short of the leader, but is fifth, it might give them an incentive to try and put in a number of those qualifying-style laps and take that point - it would be exciting for fans to watch, and would give some focus to those slightly further down the grid with an extra storyline to follow. 

The fastest lap point isn't going anywhere soon, but it always has some room for improvement.

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