The Yas Marina circuit held the ultimate spherical of the season for the 14th time, and in addition witnessed its fifth decisive race for the drivers’ championship.
For the primary time in 4 years the title modified arms, Lando Norris ending Max Verstappen’s run of consecutive championship wins. He did it by simply two factors.
This was not the narrowest championship victory in absolute phrases. Moreover the eight events when only one level separated champion from runner-up (or runners-up, as in 2007), Niki Lauda’s half-point win over McLaren group mate Alain Prost in 1984 stays the smallest successful margin.
Nonetheless adjustments over time to F1’s factors system (from eight factors for a win to 25) and calendar (from seven rounds per yr to 24 plus dash races) means slightly maths is important to get a practical impression of how shut every season actually was.
For instance, Nelson Piquet additionally received the F1 championship by two factors, in 1983. However that yr drivers might solely rating a most of 9 factors per grand prix and solely rely their finest 11 finishes, so Piquet’s two-point successful margin represented simply over 2% of a most rating.
This yr drivers might rating as much as 25 factors in every of 24 grands prix plus one other eight factors in every of the dash races. Their most potential rating was 648 in comparison with 99 in 1983. Norris’s two-point successful margin was due to this fact simply 0.31% of the utmost.
Arguably, that’s even nearer than Lauda’s 0.51% successful margin over Prost. Listed here are the closest successful margins when it comes to absolute factors and proportion of obtainable factors:
Advert | Develop into a RaceFans supporter and
Yr
Champion
Runner-up
Successful margin (factors)
Obtainable factors
Successful margin (proportion of obtainable factors)
2025
Lando Norris
Max Verstappen
2
648
0.31
1984
Niki Lauda
Alain Prost
0.5
99
0.51
2008
Lewis Hamilton
Felipe Massa
1
180
0.56
2007
Kimi Raikkonen
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso
1
170
0.59
2012
Sebastian Vettel
Fernando Alonso
3
500
0.6
1994
Michael Schumacher
Damon Hill
1
160
0.63
1976
James Hunt
Niki Lauda
1
126
0.79
2010
Sebastian Vettel
Fernando Alonso
4
475
0.84
2016
Nico Rosberg
Lewis Hamilton
5
525
0.95
1981
Nelson Piquet
Carlos Reutemann
1
99
1.01
2003
Michael Schumacher
Kimi Raikkonen
2
160
1.25
1999
Mika Hakkinen
Eddie Irvine
2
160
1.25
2021
Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton
8
567.5*
1.41
1964
John Surtees
Graham Hill
1
54
1.85
1958
Mike Hawthorn
Stirling Moss
1
54
1.85
1986
Alain Prost
Nigel Mansell
2
99
2.02
1983
Nelson Piquet
Alain Prost
2
99
2.02
1961
Phil Hill
Wolfgang von Journeys
1
45
2.22
*Half-points have been awarded at one race in 2021
Lauda’s feat of successful a title by half a degree is far much less prone to be repeated following the adjustments made to F1’s factors system, following the farcical 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, the place half-points have been awarded for a race which formally lasted for only one lap, spent behind the Security Automobile. The lowered factors awards for shortened races not embody half-points.
The one approach a driver might rating half a degree in F1 at the moment is that if they end in a tie for place with one other driver. This hasn’t occurred in F1 earlier than however did occur in a Formulation 2 race at Monza final yr: Gabriel Bortoleto and Dennis Hauger crossed the road side-by-side as they fought for eighth place, value one level, and have been formally timed at 0.000 seconds aside. They have been awarded half a degree every.
After all this debate will likely be rendered moot if two F1 drivers ever finish the season tied on factors on the prime of the standings. That won’t have occurred in F1, nevertheless it’s not unprecedented in motorsport. Juan Pablo Montoya received the 1999 CART IndyCar collection in a factors tie with Dario Franchitti.
Advert | Develop into a RaceFans supporter and
Formulation 1
Browse all Formulation 1 articles
