Paris, Monday: Following the rejection of the new Formula One scoring system by the teams this weekend, the FIA have insisted that although the controversial “winner-takes-all” plan will be deferred until 2010, it will now actually be extended to promote an even more dramatic change in the way the F1 world championship is decided.
Last week the FIA World Motor Sport Council altered the scoring system – although drivers would continue to score points based on the old 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 system, the winner of the world championship would be the driver who had won the most races, regardless of how many points he had scored.
Now FIA President Max Mosley has told reporters that the system will be extended. “Not only will first place go to the driver with the most race wins,” he said outside the FIA’s headquarters today, “but second place will go to the driver who has finished second the most times. The driver who finishes third most often will get third place, and so on.”
After this system had been exhausted, with twentieth place going to the driver listed as last most often, the remaining drivers would be listed in points order. This would mean that, in 2008, Felipe Massa would have won the driver’s championship, with Nick Heidfeld second and Kimi Raikkonen third. Mark Webber would manage the significant achievement of being both seventh and eighth in the standings. Lewis Hamilton would be twenty-first.
Fernando Alonso is said to be especially excited about the move, as had the system been in place in 2005, he would have finished first, second and third in the drivers’ championship.
Explaining the new system, Mosley said: “We looked over our original proposal and decided that only having drivers fighting for the win wasn’t good enough. We want them to be fighting for all positions, all the time.”
This morning Mosley was unavailable for further comment as he was apparently “tied up elsewhere.” The Runoff Area didn’t ask.
