<p>Formula One is changing its scoring system to award a point to the driver who sets the fastest race lap, starting from this weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.</p>.<p>The driver, whose team will also score an extra point for the constructors' championship, must finish in the top 10.</p>.<p>The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) said on Monday that the Formula One Strategy Group and F1 Commission had given unanimous approval in an e-vote. The measure had already been approved by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council on March 7.</p>.<p>Finland's Valtteri Bottas, who drives for Mercedes as team-mate to five-time champion Lewis Hamilton, last season set seven fastest laps in the 21-race championship.</p>.<p>Formula One, which will mark its 1,000th race this year at the Chinese Grand Prix, awarded a point for the fastest lap over the first decade of its existence as a world championship from 1950-59.</p>.<p>Ross Brawn, Formula One's managing director for motorsport, said the move was part of efforts “to improve the show whilst maintaining the integrity of our sport”.</p>.<p>"We felt that the reintroduction, after 60 years, of a point for the driver of the fastest lap in the race goes in this direction," he said.</p>.<p>"We have been considering this solution -- which represents a response to detailed research carried out with thousands of our fans around the world -- for a number of months."</p>.<p>Brawn said the extra point would also make the final part of a race more interesting, when fuel loads have dropped and cars are at their fastest.</p>.<p>While drivers outside the top 10 cannot gain a point from the fastest lap, they will still have an incentive to go for it and help the team by denying an extra point to rivals who might have a driver in a scoring position.</p>.<p>Teams will therefore be more alert to who has the fastest lap, with 21 extra points -- almost a race win -- up for grabs in total over the duration of a season.</p>.<p>The extra points could make all the difference to a championship outcome.</p>.<p>In modern times, Brazilian Felipe Massa would have been 2008 champion for Ferrari instead of Lewis Hamilton for McLaren on fastest laps.</p>.<p>They finished a point apart after a nail-biting final race in Brazil but Massa had three fastest laps to Hamilton's one, although strategy would doubtless have changed had an extra point also been available then.</p>
<p>Formula One is changing its scoring system to award a point to the driver who sets the fastest race lap, starting from this weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.</p>.<p>The driver, whose team will also score an extra point for the constructors' championship, must finish in the top 10.</p>.<p>The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) said on Monday that the Formula One Strategy Group and F1 Commission had given unanimous approval in an e-vote. The measure had already been approved by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council on March 7.</p>.<p>Finland's Valtteri Bottas, who drives for Mercedes as team-mate to five-time champion Lewis Hamilton, last season set seven fastest laps in the 21-race championship.</p>.<p>Formula One, which will mark its 1,000th race this year at the Chinese Grand Prix, awarded a point for the fastest lap over the first decade of its existence as a world championship from 1950-59.</p>.<p>Ross Brawn, Formula One's managing director for motorsport, said the move was part of efforts “to improve the show whilst maintaining the integrity of our sport”.</p>.<p>"We felt that the reintroduction, after 60 years, of a point for the driver of the fastest lap in the race goes in this direction," he said.</p>.<p>"We have been considering this solution -- which represents a response to detailed research carried out with thousands of our fans around the world -- for a number of months."</p>.<p>Brawn said the extra point would also make the final part of a race more interesting, when fuel loads have dropped and cars are at their fastest.</p>.<p>While drivers outside the top 10 cannot gain a point from the fastest lap, they will still have an incentive to go for it and help the team by denying an extra point to rivals who might have a driver in a scoring position.</p>.<p>Teams will therefore be more alert to who has the fastest lap, with 21 extra points -- almost a race win -- up for grabs in total over the duration of a season.</p>.<p>The extra points could make all the difference to a championship outcome.</p>.<p>In modern times, Brazilian Felipe Massa would have been 2008 champion for Ferrari instead of Lewis Hamilton for McLaren on fastest laps.</p>.<p>They finished a point apart after a nail-biting final race in Brazil but Massa had three fastest laps to Hamilton's one, although strategy would doubtless have changed had an extra point also been available then.</p>