Points system to be scrapped for 2009

[WhiteBlue]

Occasionally I agree with Joe

Good points…
March 18, 2009 by joesaward
The FIA decision to accept Bernie Ecclestone’s proposal to ensure that the driver who wins the most races, wins the World Championship is, to my mind, a good decision. I have never been a fan of the title going to someone who accumulates points rather than racing for wins. Who cares if a driver has 10 second places? And why should that beat someone with seven race victories?

Motor racing is about winning and it is good for the drivers to know that a victory is better than settling for second place. Last year Felipe Massa won six races to Lewis Hamilton’s five and so he would have been World Champion. As much as I like to see a British World Champion, this is how it should be. It is slightly odd to create a situation where the World Champion could have fewer points than his runner-up, but beyond that there is no effect down through the field. Apart from this the points system adopted is entirely the same as normal.

Only winning will make a difference. If the two championship challengers finish with the same number of wins then the title will be decided on the points scored. The rest of the standings, from second to last place, will be decided by the current points system. This makes it rather different to Ecclestone’s original “medal proposal” which had the proviso that one third place was better than four fourth places.

The Formula One Teams’ Association had proposed a scheme to reward victory by changing the points scored from the current 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 to a 12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1 system. This was rejected because it was not deemed wise to alter the current system which has now been accepted and understood by the fans. This system was introduced after Michael Schumacher ran away with the World Championship and so rewarding victory with more points would open up the possibility of that happening again.

The system voted through is a good compromise.

We still got the right winner last year because Massa's win at Spa was bull ---.

[PlatinumZealot]

Exactly! =D>

[Rob W]

Given the improvement of teams like Renault and the wowzer showings of Brawn in recent testing we are faced with the real possibility that the winner this year could do it with as little as three wins. Imagine that, someone with two wins and 12 2nd places being beaten by someone with 3 wins and little else otherwise - Especially if someone won three races on tricky 'no-passing' tracks like Monaco, Valencia and Singapore!

I'm not a far of this new system just yet. Points are just as easy to understand in my opinion but with the new system they're basically saying 1st place gets you 1 point and every other place gets you zero... So why even bother coming 2nd, 3rd or 4th if you can spend race weekends (including the race) testing parts for a specific race in a month's time?

[andartop]

Wow! It really took me a long time to go through all the posts in this thread! So, most people seem to be disappointed, ISLAMATRON is happy. Is the new system good or bad? Well, I don't know. You don't know. Even ISLAMATRON doesn't know. Problem is, the FIA, TEAMS and DRIVERS don't know either. As I 've said before in other discussions, for me the worst aspect is that they seem to have changed pretty much EVERYTHING in one go. How on earth is anyone going to evaluate the impact of each rule change since even the drivers' socks will be different this year? And what's the point? Maybe they thought it is likely this year that every driver on the grid will grasp a win! Maybe they really want to kill F1 exactly as they did WRC, by changing all the rules every single year. Seriously, would you invest even a mere $30m in a sport where you might end up competing in a different sport a year down the line? Maybe they're on drugs! Maybe WE' re on drugs and this isn't happening!
Quick! Let the season start before they change anything else!

(PS to whoever mentioned Sutil finishing 3rd against Kimi finishing 1st: based on last year's performances, I would bet my money on Sutil!!!)

[nae]

there are certainly lots of things not to like about a wins only scoring system.
mostly i dont like it on the eve of the first race and resultantly it wont show its full effect this season as all the cars are beyond serious changes of design now.

there is the possibility to design a car that will only suit 5 or 6 tracks and be a complete dog everywhere else, still that could be enough to win the WDC

combined with the 8 engine rule it could result in some seriously odd strategy throughout the season.

car no good at x,y or z track? run an old engine and do the bare minimum to satisfy the contract (spin out, retire or trundle round for advertising space)
there is no penalty in having a circuit specific car design, how does that add tot he show

conversely having a dog of a car at the start of the season wont be such a disadvantage if you can get wins later on, making it a much more target drivin sport and nothing about consistancy

what about 2nd drivers, if 1 driver has 2 wins and the other none thought equal on points the team has to support the winningist driver and thus remove the in-team spectacle much earlier in the year than previously

i really do think max has turned over FOTA after at first appearing to be involved in the new found era of co-operation and so late in the day it smacks of power play
once more from max

[nae]

Quick! Let the season start before they change anything else!

after this late change in the concept of the rules , it isnt a tweak after all but a sea change, i fear that this might not be the last rule change in the year

its like saying we dont think all the changes will spice up the show enough , but we have no evidence so we will change it anyway

[myurr]

We still got the right winner last year because Massa's win at Spa was bull ---.

But you agree with the new medal system - a system that this year, should the exact same scenario at Spa play out would effectively cost Lewis 20 points to Massa in the championship instead of 6.

And I for one do not trust the FIA and the stewards not to meddle or cock things up like they did last year on so many occasions.

[WhiteBlue]

The point system remains in place unchanged. Only the top spot gets decided by a slightly different rule, which isn't all that different in effect. Cock ups of stewards have allways happened and will happen under the new system as well.

[myurr]

The point system remains in place unchanged. Only the top spot gets decided by a slightly different rule, which isn't all that different in effect. Cock ups of stewards have allways happened and will happen under the new system as well.

I agree that cockups will happen under pretty much any solution. My point was that in respect to who wins or loses the championship, ie. the part now decided by the medal system, it's win or nothing. So the incident in Spa last year, whether you agree with the ruling or not, if replicated this year would have effectively cost Lewis 20 points (-10 for not winning, +10 to massa for inheriting the win) as opposed to the 6 it cost him last year.

Drivers fighting for the championship aren't going to give a flying stuff in that situation that they still picked up points for 3rd - the stewards ruling at that event would have had a massive impact on the championship under this years rules.

Watch and see, we're heading for a whole new level of controversy this year.

[lkocev]

I hope that it is a controversial season, that way they'll see the fuss made about this crappy scoring system, and go back to the correct one that works.

[Germanengineering]

It's official. Who ever gets the most wins, wins the championship.

[donskar]

IMHO we might sometimes forget that there are others out there who have an interest in F1, but are not as intense about it as we are. Here's something I just found on another sports forum, this one from Baltimore, Maryland, USA:

Not that I'm an avid follower of the sport,but it seems a little ridiculous to have a points system yet not use it to decide who wins the championship.

And,yet,they are still going to use the points system to ascertain the winner of the constructors' championship.
If one guy comes out and wins the first four races,it's,basically,all over.

They seem to have overlooked that possibility...

All arguments aside, it is rather unsettling to have this change only two weeks (approx) before the first race. Speaks to a serious instability in the sport.

[vall]

yes, I agree, tweaking the point system slightly is not a big deal. But such a dramatic change <2 weeks before the start is a bit too much.

We still have not heard any driver commenting on it. Briatore seems fine with it, though

[tarzoon]

in the extreme case, if one driver wins the first 9 races, the championship is over.

Personally, I don't see the point in this

[Conceptual]

Given the improvement of teams like Renault and the wowzer showings of Brawn in recent testing we are faced with the real possibility that the winner this year could do it with as little as three wins. Imagine that, someone with two wins and 12 2nd places being beaten by someone with 3 wins and little else otherwise - Especially if someone won three races on tricky 'no-passing' tracks like Monaco, Valencia and Singapore!

I'm not a far of this new system just yet. Points are just as easy to understand in my opinion but with the new system they're basically saying 1st place gets you 1 point and every other place gets you zero... So why even bother coming 2nd, 3rd or 4th if you can spend race weekends (including the race) testing parts for a specific race in a month's time?

CAREFUL! Islamatron flamed me because he said this is so improbable, that it is NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN! Even though even Jenson Button has commented in a very similar manner.

I hate the "fix it till it breaks so I make more money" people. And unfortunately, that is exactly the type that are in power.

I hope the Manufacturers leave and create their own series, especially with this horseshit medal system coupled with subjective leveling of the field.

Doesn't anyone want to race any more? Or is it really only about money?

And the logic that people dont fight for wins is rediculous. Strategic long term consistancy is much more a measure of how good a team/driver is than getting 2 lucky wins (Alonso 2008) and possibly getting a championship from it.