Championship Watch
Emerson Fittipaldi won the 1972 Drivers' Championship for Team Lotus. Final 1972 standings — every driver and constructor ranked by points and wins.
Emerson Fittipaldi won the 1972 Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship driving for Team Lotus, finishing on 61 points, 16 clear of Jackie Stewart. Fittipaldi won 5 races that season.
Team Lotus took the Constructors' Championship with 61 points, 10 ahead of Tyrrell.
5 different drivers won a Grand Prix, and 21 drivers scored championship points.
Championships in this era were decided on a "best results" basis — drivers counted only their highest-scoring finishes towards the title, so season totals can differ from the sum of every race result. Dropped scores were abolished from 1991.
Standings compiled from the Ergast/Jolpica Formula 1 results archive. Spotted an error? Tell us.
Emerson Fittipaldi leads the 1972 Drivers Championship with 61 points, holding a 16-point advantage over Jackie Stewart (Tyrrell). A gap of fewer than 25 points — one race win — means the title race remains mathematically open every single weekend.
In the 1972 Constructors Championship, Team Lotus leads with 61 points — a 10-point margin over Tyrrell. The Constructors title is decided by the combined points haul of a team's two drivers from every race, making car reliability, pit stop execution, and strategic pairing as important as raw pace.
The current FIA points system awards points to the top ten finishers in every Grand Prix: 25–18–15–12–10–8–6–4–2–1. An additional point goes to the driver who sets the fastest lap of the race, provided they finish inside the top ten. Sprint events — held on Saturday at select rounds — offer a separate points structure: 8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1 for the top eight finishers, counting toward both championships independently of the main race result.
A driver must hold an FIA Super Licence and score at least one championship point to register on the standings. DNFs score zero, but a classified finish — completing at least 90% of the race distance — earns the driver’s finishing position even without a points reward.