Maurice Trintignant is unlikely to be the name that rolls off the tongue if you were to ask anyone for their favourite Formula 1 driver of all time.
The Frenchman competed in F1 for 14 years, winning twice in Monte Carlo, and taking 10 podiums across a varied career that included two separate spells driving for Ferrari.
But for 60 years Trintignant could claim to be the last man to score a point for the fastest lap in an F1 race after he achieved the accolade at the season-ending United States Grand Prix in 1959.
After the decision was taken to stop awarding a point for the quickest effort of a race, the rule was not reintroduced until 2019, when Valtteri Bottas stole Trintignant’s thunder by setting the fastest lap at the Australian GP on his way to victory for Mercedes.
There will be just six more grands prix until the fastest lap point is once again consigned to the history books as the FIA announced on Thursday that the rule will be scrapped from 2025 onwards.
The rule's demise was met with a largely apathetic response from drivers, with Carlos Sainz insistent that it mostly rewarded drivers who were able to take a free pitstop towards the end of the race rather than the actual fastest driver. George Russell labelled it "pointless".
Crunch the numbers and it is a thrilling battle as to who has taken the most points for fastest laps since 2019. But the two drivers streets ahead of anyone else will come as little surprise.
Max Verstappen has 27 points with Lewis Hamilton on 26, as the two dominant drivers during the fastest lap point era are once again separated by the narrowest of margins.
Drivers who scored points for fastest lap in modern-era F1
| Driver | Fastest Lap Points | First Fastest Lap Point | Last Fastest Lap Point |
| Max Verstappen | 27 | Austrian GP, 2019 | Japanese GP, 2024 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 26 | Spanish GP, 2019 | Canadian GP, 2024 |
| Lando Norris | 10 | Austrian GP, 2020 | Azerbaijan GP, 2024 |
| Charles Leclerc | 9 | Bahrain GP, 2019 | Australian GP, 2024 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 7 | Australian GP, 2019 | Turkish GP, 2021 |
| George Russell | 7 | Sakhir GP, 2020 | Hungarian GP, 2024 |
| Sergio Perez | 7 | Brazilian GP, 2021 | Belgian GP, 2024 |
| Carlos Sainz | 4 | Styrian GP, 2020 | British GP, 2024 |
| Pierre Gasly | 3 | Chinese GP, 2019 | Hungarian GP, 2021 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 3 | Belgian GP, 2020 | Italian GP, 2021 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 2 | French GP, 2019 | Belgian GP, 2019 |
| Fernando Alonso | 2 | Dutch GP, 2023 | Chinese GP, 2024 |
| Yuki Tsunoda | 1 | United States GP, 2023 | - |
| Oscar Piastri | 1 | Las Vegas GP, 2023 | - |
*Stats up to and including Singapore Grand Prix, 2024
Verstappen and Hamilton fought for the championship in 2021 in a battle that went down to the wire with that infamous finish to the Abu Dhabi GP.
If fastest lap points had not been awarded in 2021, Verstappen would have gone into the final race at Yas Marina two points ahead of his title rival rather than locked on the same tally of 369.5. Would that perhaps have seen things play out differently?
This year, Verstappen is once again engaged in a closely-fought battle, with Lando Norris his closest challenger. The McLaren driver is two points closer in the contest than he would have been if fastest lap points were not awarded, as he currently leads Verstappen 4-2 across 2024.
Norris’ first fastest lap point came at the start of the Covid-hit 2020 season in Austria, while Russell earned his first fastest lap at that year's Sakhir GP on his debut for Mercedes when stepping in for an unwell Hamilton.
Abu Dhabi aside, one of the other controversial moments of that memorable 2021 campaign was the decision to start the rain-soaked Belgian GP in Spa. Half-points were awarded despite only one lap officially being completed following FIA countback rules, with no fastest lap being posted as a result.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is high up on the list with nine fastest lap points. A third of these came with a stunning hat-trick at the start of the 2022 season when he set the quickest time in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
It took until the Dutch GP in 2023 for two-time world champion Fernando Alonso to get on the board with a fastest lap point, as he sat out the 2019 and 2020 campaigns before returning to F1 with Alpine in 2021, while Sebastian Vettel retired after scoring two points for fastest lap with Ferrari at the 2019 French and Belgian GPs. The four-time world champion has 38 fastest laps to his credit, but the era of awarding points for the honour came towards the end of his pomp.
Zhou Guanyu has twice set the fastest lap, only to finish outside the top 10 and therefore not claim a point. However the tactical reasoning was clear, following his 16th placed finishes at the Japanese Grand Prix in 2022 and in Bahrain the following year.
Posting the fastest lap time while out of the top 10 may not have earned the Chinese driver any points, but it wrestled a potential bonus point away from rival teams in the midfield battle.
Kevin Magnussen became the first driver to seal a fastest lap but not score a point – which is only awarded if the driver finishes in the top 10 – at the 2019 Singapore GP as the Dane finished down in 17th for Haas.
The timing of the FIA announcement to drop the fastest lap point comes after arguably the most controversial grand prix to involve the regulation.
With Norris looking to hunt down Verstappen at the top of the drivers’ standings, the McLaren driver produced a dominant display to win the Singapore GP and was on to claim a career 11th fastest lap point too.
But he was thwarted in his bid by Daniel Ricciardo, running last while driving his final race for Red Bull’s sister team RB, who came in for a set of soft tyres to take the fastest lap and steal a point away from Norris.
Regardless of RB's reasoning over pitting Ricciardo when it did, ultimately that one point taken from Norris could prove the difference in a tense title tussle.
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