Formula 1 has finally given a reason why it will no longer award a bonus point to the driver who sets the fastest lap during a grand prix.

The FIA, which sets F1’s regulations, and Formula One Management announced the decision to drop the rule in October last year. However neither offered an explanation for the change.

FOM reintroduced the bonus point for fastest lap, decades after it was originally removed from the rule book, in 2019. It predicted the change would “improve the show” and “make the final part of the race even more interesting.”

Its sudden and unexplained decision to drop the bonus point came less than a month after last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, where it became a bone of contention between championship contenders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. The latter lost the bonus to Daniel Ricciardo after the RB driver made a late pit stop to take fresh tyres, despite being ineligible to score the point himself as he ran outside the top 10.

Ricciardo, a former Red Bull driver who returned to their second team in 2023, admitted he took the bonus point away from Norris “with a little bit of Red Bull in mind.” McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown, who has repeatedly urged F1 bosses to prevent competitors gaining an advantage by owning multiple teams, called it “a nice A/B-team sporting thing that I didn’t think was allowed.”

F1 has now indicated the Singapore Grand Prix controversy did serve as the prompt to drop the rule, stating on its official website: “With the bonus sometimes proving a controversial topic, the decision was taken to remove it from the scoring system this year.”

The bonus point is unlikely to be missed by F1 drivers, most of whom said it was an unnecessary addition to the rules. The decision to drop the rule has not been reflected in Formula 2 or Formula 3, which will continue to award one point to whichever driver sets the fastest lap in each of their race formats, providing they finish in the top 10.

A poll of RaceFans readers last year found a majority favoured dropping the rule from F1.

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