F1 set to introduce a point for fastest race lap

08/03/2019
NEWS STORY

E-vote on Monday likely to see point for fastest race lap re-introduced to F1 from season opener.

Though there was no mention in the statement that followed yesterday's meeting of the World Motor Sport Council – which worryingly, in terms of F1 only referred to the "launch of a series of tenders within the context of the ongoing development of the 2021 Technical Regulations" - it appears that an E-vote will take place on Monday to decide whether to award a championship point for the driver who posts the fastest race lap during a Grand Prix.

If approved, the idea would be introduced from next week's season opener in Melbourne.

It wouldn't be the first time the driver setting the fastest race lap has been awarded points, for the practice was used between the inaugural season of F1 in 1950 and continued until 1959.

While the matter was discussed and approved yesterday, it now has to be submitted to the F1 Commission if it is to be included in the 2019 Sporting Regulations. If it is approved in Monday's E-vote, the system will be introduced next weekend.

Formula E already awards a point for the driver who posts the fastest lap of the race, while the practice has also been used in F2 and GP3 for years.

However, the point, which it is hoped will encourage drivers to push harder in the final stages of a race, and possibly encourage late pit stops, will only be awarded if the driver who posts the fastest time finishes in the top ten, this being a bid to prevent the sort of late fliers we saw from Fernando Alonso last year.

While the idea has been mooted for some time, the only occasion when it would have affected the final standings in recent history is 2008 when Felipe Massa would have denied Lewis Hamilton the crown courtesy of his three fastest laps to the Briton's one.

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Published: 08/03/2019
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