Please ensure you have a full understanding of how Improvement Points work HERE before reading the description below.
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Improvement points add an element to that game that helps mid-field and lower-ranked drivers earn additional points if they have an above-average performance.
Because Improvement points are calculated based on a driver or rider's rolling average, we are often asked how we calculate these at the beginning of a season.
For drivers or riders that raced in the previous season and have not changed teams, we simply take the previous 8 events from the last season to calculate their rolling average finish position.
If less than 8 previous results are available for a driver/rider OR if a driver changes constructor from one race to the next, the remaining values will be substituted against the driver/rider's season start ranking assigned to the driver at the beginning of the season.
Example 1:
Lewis Hamilton has more than 8 races completed with his current constructor Mercedes. The previous 8 real-world race results will be used in the calculation.
Example 2:
Yuki Tsunoda is a new driver for 2021 with an initial season ranking of 15 (which has been manually set by GridRival.) For the first race, his incoming rolling average will be 15 using the formula (15+15+15+15+15+15+15+15) / 8.
Assuming Yuki finishes the first race in p7, his incoming rolling average for the second race will be 14 using the formula (15+15+15+15+15+15+15+7) / 8.
After each additional race, the substituted values will drop off and be replaced with real race data until the 8th race of the season. This example is identical for how a driver that switches teams will be calculated as well.