What do F1 points mean anyway?

At the Korean Grand Prix Fernando Alonso could become the most successful driver in the history of the Formula 1 world championship. And if he doesn't do it there, it's inevitable he will do so before the season is out.

By most metrics, the Spaniard is already recognised as an all-time great thanks to his two world titles, 32 victories and close to 100 appearances on the podium. But he is also on the brink of becoming number one on points scored.

If he wins or finishes second in Korea, Alonso will leap ahead of Michael Schumacher at the top of the list. A third place will put him level with the German's haul of 1566 points.

The natural reflex is to dismiss this achievement. In real terms, changes to the points system - particularly the shift to 25 points for a win in 2010 - renders his achievement meaningless when comparing it with others.

The points system, the longevity of today's drivers, the number of races in a season and the reliability of current machinery overwhelmingly loads the dice in favour of contemporary racers.

Eight of the top 15 all-time scorers are active, while a further two have raced under the current scoring system. What's more, eight of them are also in the top 15 most prolific race-starters, the least experienced in the list being Sebastian Vettel with 114.

Top F1 points scorers:

1. Michael Schumacher, 1566
2. Fernando Alonso, 1551
3. Sebastian Vettel, 1301
4. Lewis Hamilton, 1064
5. Jenson Button, 1053
6. Mark Webber, 978.5
7. Kimi Raikkonen, 935
8. Alain Prost, 798.5
9. Felipe Massa, 791
10. Rubens Barrichello, 658
11. Ayrton Senna, 614
12. David Coulthard, 535
13. Nico Rosberg, 515.5
14. Nelson Piquet, 485.5
15. Nigel Mansell, 482

Alonso is set to overtake Schumacher © XPB

Clearly, the changing points systems over the years have a huge influence on these statistics. The eight points Juan Manuel Fangio earned for each of his 24 victories pales in comparison to the 25 earned by Vettel for his 33. Before that, the points systems remained relatively, if not perfectly, comparable, with only minor changes.

From 1950-59, the top five positions earned 8-6-4-3-2, with a point for fastest lap. From 1960, the fastest-lap point was removed and instead awarded for sixth place. A year later, F1 gave nine points for a win, increasing to 10 from 1991.

During this period, various dropped-scores systems were adopted, some more logical than others, but from 1991 these were abandoned. In terms of the points records, all points scored are counted.

In 2003, points were awarded down to eighth place on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis before the most radical overhaul in history for 2010, which extended points to the top 10 with a 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 structure. And while superficially this makes it easier to score points, the vastly increased reliability of modern cars means that this is not really the case.

So to even things up, what happens if points are re-allocated based on the current regulations? Thanks to AUTOSPORT's FORIX database, this is easily done. And the results are interesting. Inevitably, the bias towards prolific, modern drivers remains, as does the advantage of contemporary reliability, but it at least wipes out one level of distortion.

Top F1 points scorers based on today's points system:

1. Michael Schumacher, 3890
2. Alain Prost, 2470.5
3. Fernando Alonso, 2394
4. Rubens Barrichello, 1892
5. Ayrton Senna, 1859.5
6. Kimi Raikkonen, 1854
7. David Coulthard, 1726
8. Nelson Piquet, 1672
9. Jenson Button, 1664.5
10. Nigel Mansell, 1500
11. Sebastian Vettel, 1491
12. Lewis Hamilton, 1439
13. Gerhard Berger, 1409.5
14. Mika Hakkinen, 1382
15. Niki Lauda, 1337

Inoue would have been a point-scorer with the current system © LAT

As well as showing that Alonso is still well up there, the switch to points down to 10th allows some interesting names to join the list of points scorers. Italian gentleman racer Giovanni Lavaggi, who drove for Minardi and Pacific, would have one point thanks to his 10th place at the Hungaroring in 1996, and the infamous Taki Inoue would have six in his pocket (including a bumper haul for eighth place at Monza '95). There are countless examples of races where there are not even 10 classified finishers to reward!

The next variable to mitigate is that of reliability. While not a perfect way of doing this, primarily because drivers are benefitting from others' retirements but not having their own counted against them, by taking the adjusted points and creating a list of the average points per classified finish, the results are dramatically different.

Average points per finish based on current scoring system:*

1. Alberto Ascari, 19.23
2. Juan Manuel Fangio, 18.55
3. Jackie Stewart, 17.60
4. Alain Prost, 17.28
5. Ayrton Senna, 17.22
6. Jim Clark, 17.06
7. Michael Schumacher, 16.14
8. Stirling Moss, 15.55
9. Sebastian Vettel, 15.53
10. Giuseppe Farina, 15.46
11. Nigel Mansell, 15.31
12. Niki Lauda, 15.02
13. Jochen Rindt, 14.32
14. Damon Hill, 14.17
15. Mike Hawthorn, 13.83
*minimum 100 points 'scored'

This becomes a far more accurate measure of greatness than the other form of points list. After all, in the top 15 there is only one driver who was not a world champion. Appropriately enough, it's Stirling Moss, recognised near-universally as the greatest driver never to win a title.

Ascari leads in average points per finish © LAT

Alonso suffers by this metric, lying in 18th place and averaging 13.53 points per race. His average is lowered by a debut season in an uncompetitive Minardi in which he starred, but managed only one 'point' under the current scoring system. That, and his difficult 2009 season with Renault, mitigates against him.

Hamilton, fourth in the overall list, also suffers and slides down to 22nd place with 13.45 points per finish. Raikkonen suffers a similar fate, coming in 27th on 12.70 points per classification.

The points-per-finish system also harms those with tremendous consistency and longevity. Coulthard, 12th in the real scorers list, lies 59th averaging 10.21 points per race. Webber (sixth) and Barrichello (10th) drop to equal 93rd with 8.26 points. All are impressive records, but not at the same level as the all-time greats.

But the most attention-grabbing name on the points-per-finish list is Ascari. The Italian won back-to-back titles in 1952-53, when the world championship ran to Formula 2 regulations and Ferrari utterly dominated. After that run, he only started a further six points-paying races, finishing none of them and ending his final Monaco GP in the harbour.

Four days later he was dead, killed in a testing accident at Monza at the corner that now bears his name, then a fast left-hander.

Like all metrics for evaluating greatness of drivers, points, even in the manipulated forms above, have some serious limitations. But it does suggest that perhaps Ascari is the most poorly served of the greats in terms of statistics.

As for Alonso, while his points-per-finish ratio is eclipsed by many, the heavy scoring over his career means he won't be dramatically out of place at the top of the points-scoring tree, even though his path there has been assisted by the modern points system.

Thanks to Joao Paulo Cunha of FORIX