Monday F1 Notes: Formula 1 Commission Rules on Awarding Points Beyond 10th Place

There’ll be no changes to the points system for 2025, Haas has a lowly showing, and the Formula 3 title fight hots up.

Autoweek rounds up some of the other talking points from the Belgian Grand Prix.

No Points Beyond P10

The Formula 1 Commission has rejected a notion to extend the points-paying positions below the top 10.

There had been calls for the points system to be extended down to 12th position in order to better reflect more consistent performances among the lower half of the grid, owing to increased reliability in the modern era meaning that more drivers are finishing more Grands Prix. But this was unanimously rejected by the Formula 1 Commission.

Elsewhere the Commission agreed the increase of the minimum driver weight from 80 kg to 82 kg from 2025 for safety reasons; any driver below 82 kg will have the required ballast added to their seats. This means the overall minimum weight of the cars, before fuel, will increase to 800kg next year.

It was also confirmed that pre-season testing for the 2026 season—when new engine and chassis regulations will be introduced—will be lengthened to nine days of running across three separate tests.

McLaren Inks Deal with Mastercard

Another major American company has climbed into Formula 1 sponsorship as Mastercard has partnered with McLaren on a multi-year deal. The card company’s branding will appear on the MCL38 later in the season.

“Mastercard is an incredible brand with the iconic red and yellow logo instantly recognisable wherever you are in the world,” McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said. “Mastercard shares our absolute passion for offering fans fantastic experiences and opportunities to truly feel part of our growing global racing community.”

Zak Brown’s Latest Bet

Oscar Piastri’s maiden victory at the previous Grand Prix in Hungary meant another celebratory stunt for McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown.

Brown had previously agreed to get tattoos when Daniel Ricciardo (Monza 2021) and Lando Norris (Miami 2024) claimed victories for McLaren, but was reluctant to take another trip to get inked in the event of Piastri adding his name to the list of winners.

Instead, Brown’s latest celebratory stunt—if it can be called such—was to don an orange mohawk during the pre-race proceedings at Spa-Francorchamps.

Elsewhere McLaren has added 13-year-old Dries Van Langendonck to its Driver Development program. The Belgian youngster was last year’s World Junior Karting Champion.

Haas Fails to Find Sweet Spot

After an encouraging first half of the season, in which it has been a regular points scorer to lift it to seventh in the championship, Haas had an atypically lackluster weekend in Belgium.

Neither Nico Hulkenberg nor Kevin Magnussen made it out of Q1 in wet conditions on Saturday, and in race trim Magnussen one-stopped on his way to 15th, with Hulkenberg two-stopping but taking only 18th.

“We had no pace, no harmony, no rhythm,” Hulkenberg said. “I just didn’t get off on the right foot with the car all weekend and we didn’t manage to find a sweet spot across the sessions, and we need to look a little into why, but also forget this weekend and go again after the summer break.”

Magnussen agreed that “I can’t say we did anything wrong, we just weren’t fast enough. We thought this track was going to be good for us, but we’ve been surprised many times, and this is the worst race we’ve had in a while.”

Belgian GP Remains Majestic

The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps has always been among the favorites of Formula 1 drivers, with its high-speed corners flowing naturally through the Ardennes Forest. There was the best and worst of the Belgian summer across the weekend, with rain and mist hanging in the area through Saturday, before clearing to reveal blue skies and warm conditions on Sunday. 380,000 spectators attended the weekend’s action, matching the figure from 2023.

There remain a few sticking points for organizers to address, including traffic management, but that is a snafu that seems unlikely to ever be resolved.

Belgium contract runs out after next year’s event—which marks the centenary of the inaugural Belgian Grand Prix—but there has been renewed interest from the government, which is keen to tie down Spa-Francorchamps’ future for the long term. That would be a welcome development given that circuits such as Spa-Francorchamps are few and far between.

Las Vegas Bureau Becomes F1 Partner

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has become an official partner of Formula 1, with Las Vegas signage set to appear more regularly at upcoming Grands Prix. LVCVA is one of the founding partners of the Las Vegas Grand Prix—the second edition of which will be held in November—and its branding appeared in revised form at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend.

“We are thrilled to elevate Las Vegas’ visibility by becoming an official partner of Formula 1,” LVCVA CEO Steve Hill said. “In recent years, Las Vegas has made tremendous strides in becoming the Sports and Entertainment Capital of the World and partnering with the world’s premier motor sport organization to host the Las Vegas Grand Prix marked a major milestone in that effort.”

Hadjar Takes Leap in F2 Fight

Isack Hadjar took a leap towards the Formula 2 title with a convincing victory in the Feature Race in Belgium, his fourth triumph of the season.

Red Bull junior Hadjar overhauled Paul Aron after an early fight and resisted McLaren protégé Gabriel Bortoleto during the closing stages to pick up the win. Hadjar extended his points advantage over new nearest rival Bortoleto to 36, in the wake of Aron, who was set for third, retiring on the final lap due to a car failure.

Formula 2 has four rounds remaining at Monza, Baku, Lusail and Yas Marina.

2025 Haas racer Ollie Bearman had another shocker, colliding with Pepe Marti before the first turn, for which he received a grid penalty for Monza. Remarkably Bearman remains higher in this year’s Formula 1 championship order compared to his position in the Formula 2 standings.

Seven-Driver Fight for F3 Crown

Seven drivers will enter the final round of the Formula 3 championship in with a chance of taking the crown. The category’s season finale will be held alongside the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, and a closely-contested campaign will go down to the final race.

Leonardo Fornaroli leads the standings on 129 points despite not taking a single win across the 18 of the 20 races held so far, with his consistency elevating him to the top of the pile. He is a single point clear of Alpine junior Gabriele Mini, with Williams protégé Luke Browning just five points further back.

Highly-rated Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad, the youngest of the protagonists aged 16, is only 15 points back despite failing to score across the last two events since his double race win at Silverstone. Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic, Australian Christian Mansell and German youngster Oliver Goethe are mathematically in the hunt but are outside contenders.