For several years now, Formula 1 has been awarding an extra point for the fastest racing lap. Now the rule is suddenly being abolished again.
The extra point for the fastest race lap will be abolished in Formula 1. The World Motor Sports Council of the International Automobile Federation approved the decision in a partly digital meeting on Thursday in Paris.
There will no longer be an additional point for the driver who drove the fastest lap in a Grand Prix and finished in the top ten. It was awarded again from 2019. There was initially no explanation for the decision from the world association.
The fight for the extra point received particular attention in the last race in Singapore. The Red Bull team had probably instructed its sister team Racing Bulls to let their driver Daniel Ricciardo make a pit stop in his last career race. The aim was for Ricciardo to set the fastest race lap with fresh tires and thus take the extra point away from McLaren driver Lando Norris, who was holding the fastest lap at the time and is currently fighting for the world championship with Red Bull driver Max Verstappen . The plan worked: Ricciardo drove the fastest lap and thus took the point away from Norris.