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Belgian Grand Prix

F1 races where half points were awarded

Verstappen is only the sixth driver to claim half points for a win

Ewan Gale

Sunday 29 August 2021 22:00

With the Belgian Grand Prix completing just two laps to confirm a classification, F1 handed out half-points for just the sixth time in its 71-year history.

Torrential rainfall throughout the day at Spa-Francorchamps ensured the race never fully got underway, even with force majeure cited by the FIA to allow for more time.

Max Verstappen emerged as the victor with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton rounding out the podium.

GPFans Global takes a look back at the previous instances of half-points being awarded in F1.

Spain 1975

Before the days of the Circuit de Catalunya, F1 ran the Spanish Grand Prix at the Montjuic street circuit in Barcelona.

The 1975 event had started without two-time champion Emerson Fittipaldi as the Brazilian had withdrawn in protest over safety at the circuit.

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Ralf Stommelmen crashed out just over a third of the way into the race, leaving the circuit and killing five spectators. The race was stopped after 29 laps with Jochen Mass declared the winner.

Lella Lombardi finished sixth and became the first and to this date the only female driver to claim world championship points, scoring half a point.

Austria 1975

A familiar race track but a very different layout, the 1975 race at the Osterreichring was stopped after 29 laps due to torrential rainfall.

Italian Vittorio Brambilla was sensational in the tricky conditions, opening up a 27-second winning margin over James Hunt as he took his maiden - and only - F1 victory.

The race will be remembered for the March driver spinning across the line, tainting his victorious moment.

Monaco 1984

The race that announced Ayrton Senna to the world, torrential rain was again the limiting factor to this grand prix.

Future team-mate and nemesis Alain Prost was declared the winner after 31 laps of the principality street circuit with Senna in his Toleman haring down on the Frenchman.

The highly controversial decision to stop the race ultimately played against Prost, who lost the championship to team-mate Niki Lauda by half a point that year.

Australia 1991

Until Verstappen took the honours at the Belgian Grand Prix, the race at Adelaide in 1991 was the shortest ever F1 race with just 16 laps completed

This time, Senna was on the winning end of the bargain, although confusion dictated that only 14 laps had been completed.

Multiple incidents prompted the suspension, with Nigel Mansell - who was classified second - crashing heavily.

The victory for the Brazilian along with a podium for Gerhard Berger [who by lap 17 was outside the points scoring positions] ensured McLaren topped the constructors' standings.