This is a list of points scoring systems used to determine the outcome of the FIA Formula One World Drivers' Championships since 1950 and Constructors' Championships since 1958 (when the Constructors' Cup was inaugurated). The Championships are awarded each year to the driver and constructor who accumulate the most championship points over the course of the Championship season.
In most seasons until 1990, only a certain number of a driver's best results were counted towards the World Championship. This made a difference to the outcome in 1988, when McLaren drivers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost finished first and second respectively. Prost finished 14 races in either first or second, retiring from the other two, while Senna won 8 races to Prost's 7, meaning that he only needed 3 further 2nd places to secure the championship irrespective of Prost's other results. Senna succeeded in doing this and became champion, although Prost would have scored more points had all the races counted. In 1964 John Surtees became champion ahead of Graham Hill for the similar reason. A new system counting the points from all races was introduced in 1991, along with an extra point being awarded to the winner of a race (10 points versus the previously awarded 9 points).
The most dominant Drivers' Champion in terms of points scored is Jim Clark, who scored the maximum of 54 points (6 wins) in both 1963 and 1965. In recent times, Michael Schumacher finished on the podium in every race of the 2002 season to score 144 of a maximum 170 points. The most dominant Constructors' Champion in recent times was McLaren in 1988, scoring 199 of a maximum 240 points and finishing 134 points ahead of its nearest rival. In 2002, Ferrari scored 221 points, as many as all the other teams put together.
In 2003, the FIA inflated the points system by 50%: to distribute 39 points per race between the first eight places instead of 24–26 points between the first five or six places along with a point for an occasional fastest lap, as had been the case since the inception of the championship. The FIA changed the scoring system again in 2010, this time inflating the points system by more than 150%, and extending it to the first ten places. 101 points are currently being distributed every race, with 25 being awarded to the race winner. In 2014, double points were awarded for the final race of the season to make it less likely that one dominant manufacturer or driver would build up an unassailable lead with several races still left, as had happened the year before. Double points have not been used again since.