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.

The driver, whose team will also score an extra point for the constructors' championship, must finish in the top 10.

The governing FIA said on Monday that the Formula One Strategy Group and F1 Commission had given unanimous approval in an e-vote, with the measure already been approved by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council on March 7.

Ross Brawn, Formula One's managing director for motorsports, said the move was part of efforts “to improve the show whilst maintaining the integrity of our sport.

“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.

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.

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.

The extra points could make all the difference to a championship outcome.

Formula One, which will mark its 1,000th race this year at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai next month, awarded a point for the fastest lap over the first decade of its existence as a world championship from 1950-59.