F1 awarding .5 of a point? (history)

[nthfinity]

i was just looking at the F1 history on F1.com... and i found something peculiar... a half point awarded to two drivers that year... how is that even possible?
it was in 1991 awarded to
Gianni Morbidelli Italian Ferrari 0.5
Nelson Piquet Brazilian Benetton-Ford 26.5



http://www.formula1.com/archive/driver/1991.html
does anybody know the history of this? somehow both finishing the exact same time to the .001 of a second in the last points paying position?

[beeli]

yes. no problem.

it's something about the rule in the old year...

[nthfinity]

from the australian gp... looks like 1/2 the points were awarded as the race was stopped after just 14 laps

4 20 Nelson Piquet Benetton-Ford 14 + 30.103 5 1.5
6 27 Gianni Morbidelli Ferrari 14 + 51.069 8 0.5

[stracing]

thats right!

[abbor]

Originally Posted by beeli yes. no problem. it's something about the rule in the old year...

No kidding :roll:

[beeli]

Originally Posted by abbor Originally Posted by beeli yes. no problem. it's something about the rule in the old year... No kidding :roll:

that isn't it ?

[SPEEDCORE]

http://www.formula1.com/insight/rule...gs/13/455.html

(The only exception to this is when a race is suspended and cannot be restarted. If less than 75 per cent of the race distance has been completed half points are awarded, and if less than two laps have been completed, no points are awarded.)

Its not an old rule you can still get 1/2 pts.

Its happened afew times with 1/2 pt races.

[sameerrao]

If you look really far back (say early 50s), then half points were also awarded for another reason - shared drives.

E.g You finished fourth in the race but shared the drive with someone else you would get 1.5 points.

Another thing screwing up comparisons was an extra point for fastest lap. So if you got the win and the fastest lap you got 9+1 = 10 points.

[nthfinity]

Originally Posted by sameerrao If you look really far back (say early 50s), then half points were also awarded for another reason - shared drives. E.g You finished fourth in the race but shared the drive with someone else you would get 1.5 points. Another thing screwing up comparisons was an extra point for fastest lap. So if you got the win and the fastest lap you got 9+1 = 10 points.

thats interesting... but honestly, i dont mind that 1 point was given for fastest lap... even today, after every race, the podium finishers are all wondering who had the fast lap of the race.

theres something they love and find exilherating about running as fast as humanly possible on low fuel, so why not reward a point or so for fast lap?