From News On F1 here:

http://newsonf1.net/2008/news/ ... dical_points_shakeup.html

Mar.16 (GMM) Bernie Ecclestone wants to push through a radical shake-up of the formula one points system for drivers.

The F1 chief executive thinks the current system, where drivers collect points depending on their race positions, does not properly reward winning and often encourages title contenders to settle for lower places.

"It is my intention to push this idea through in the coming weeks," Ecclestone, 77, confirmed to the Daily Mail.

His idea is to retain the current points system for the constructors' championship, but crown the driver who wins the most races in a season.

If two drivers are tied on wins, the champion will be the one with the most second places, according to Bernie's plan.
"Right now there are not enough overtaking manoeuvres in the sport because drivers are happy not to take risks and claim second place because it is only two points less than winning the race," he said.

Ecclestone is confident that his plan can be introduced.
"Well, I am the president of the F1 commission," he pointed out to the British newspaper.

Firstly it would be an absolute joke and seriously hurt the sports integrity further if the points system is suddenly changed half way through, I seriously hope it does not happen. I don't think scoring based on wins is a good idea but I would rather a return to the old points system (another case of changing something for the sake of it).

Not a bad idea, but who's going to tell Keke Rosberg he didnt deserve to win in 1982. Keke looks a bit of a no nonsense hard nutter to me!

Seriously though, this looks like a half decent idea to me.

Quote from ajp71 :

Firstly it would be an absolute joke and seriously hurt the sports integrity further if the points system is suddenly changed half way through, I seriously hope it does not happen. I don't think scoring based on wins is a good idea but I would rather a return to the old points system (another case of changing something for the sake of it).

Agreed it wouldn't make sense to change for this season. Maybe he's thinking about next season.

How does the old points system differ?

Just yet another bad idea to shoot down

i am sick of Bernie's sh*tty ideas. i think its abt time for him to retire.
the best driver isnt just about winning. its abt consistency.

Only a few teams/drivers are capable of winning a race. How would they classify other drivers in the drivers championship?

Quote from NSX_FReeDoM :

i am sick of Bernie's sh*tty ideas. i think its abt time for him to retire ...

Hehe.

Hey, you don't just retire from a 'job' like that. It's made him a seriously wealthy man.

He's not daft. He'll be there 'till he falls off his pearch.

They can't do this mid season, and its a rubbish of an idea to start with.
If anything just make 1st place have 12 instead of 10 and then it would be good.

Quote :

None of the above. I've got a better idea ...

Shoot Bernie....

Stupid idea, full stop. Winning & Consistency are just as important as each other. Just look at McLaren a few years back when they had the fastest car on it's day, but it was so unreliable it was barely competitive.

Quote from Kalev EST :

Only a few teams/drivers are capable of winning a race. How would they classify other drivers in the drivers championship?

Good point.

Maybe in the same way; by numbers of finishing positions?

e.g. Three 2nds and two 3rds beats two 2nds and three 3rds.

Quote from Becky Rose :

Not a bad idea, but who's going to tell Keke Rosberg he didnt deserve to win in 1982. Keke looks a bit of a no nonsense hard nutter to me!

I think the title just had to be given to someone. No-one especially desrerved it that season.

This will make F1 into Poker.

Heard about this yesterday, but it's difficult to comment without knowing the details of his proposal.

He's a fan of MotoGP, so perhaps he's thinking of a similar points system, i.e. 25 for the win, 20 for second, and so on, all the way down to 1pt for 15th.

Can't imagine he's thinking of only giving points to the winner. Not even Bernie's that daft.....then again...

Maybe it's just another one of Bernie's warning shots across the bows, a way of stirring folk into action to come up with a better solution. If you look at the history of this stuff, seldom of these crazy ideas ever see the light of day. And i don't think even he's stupid enough to kill his golden goose by turning it into a complete farce....

The last thing he'd want is to go back to a situation when the championship was decided half a dozen races before the end of the season. Look at last year, down to the final race with 3 drivers all with a shout of being World Champ, can it get any more exciting than that ?

No it won't turn into poker. I don't remember statistics very good, but for the last ten years the driver who had most wins has won the championship.... there might be an exeption though, i'm not sure

Quote from Mustafur :

This will make F1 into Poker.

LOL

[announcer] "... and now, as we go live to the driver's lounge ..."

"Hey, my two pair beats your three of a kind - gimme the trophy!"

Quote from Mazz4200 :

Heard about this yesterday, but it's difficult to comment without knowing the details of his proposal.

He's a fan of MotoGP, so perhaps he's thinking of a similar points system, i.e. 25 for the win, 20 for second, and so on, all the way down to 1pt for 15th.

Can't imagine he's thinking of only giving points to the winner. Not even Bernie's that daft.....then again...

Maybe it's just another one of Bernie's warning shots across the bows, a way of stirring folk into action to come up with a better solution. If you look at the history of this stuff, seldom of these crazy ideas ever see the light of day. And i don't think even he's stupid enough to kill his golden goose by turning it into a complete farce....

The last thing he'd want is to go back to a situation when the championship was decided half a dozen races before the end of the season. Look at last year, down to the final race with 3 drivers all with a shout of being World Champ, can it get any more exciting than that ?

Agreed, this points system works, but it dosen't really reward the winner as much as it should be.

Points for every position, with a 4 point gap between 1st and 2nd and a 2 point gap between the rest of the positions. This would encourage teams to work on reliability and make the midpack battles more interesting. It would also reward the winner more than the current system.

Awarding people only for winning is mental, no driver wants to finish 2nd, they will always try and win if it is possible, so why punish the people who just miss out on a win? What if someone has been spun out by the winner and had to fight back through the pack to take 2nd place, only for the winner to get the championship because he had more wins...despite having far less points because he crashed into people so much during the season or his team decided not to turn up.

It would render mid-field battles completely meaningless, unless it would be a "lowest points" championship, where 1st = 1 point and 10th = 10 points, but that's a waste of time.

Classic B.E, though. He'll get this in just as the new aero rules kick in, and take credit for improving the racing with his points scheme.

Well, the whole idea that winner must get ten points and everybody else less is imho just another old system that needs to be fixed. Give the winner 20 points:

20
16
12
10
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

This would also make the lower positions mean something and might actually result in more people racing. Winner needs to get substantially more points thatn the 2nd or third. At the same time you could give 1 point for the fastest lap of the race and 1 point for pole. The driver should not be punished for engine or gearbox change, just take some points away from the manufacturer. I could go on for eternity

Not too sure about this:

"The F1 chief executive thinks the current system, ... often encourages title contenders to settle for lower places."

These guys are all fiercely competitive and it seems to me that if they can't get a win, then they at least want to beat the guy in front.

Take Kovalainen for example. I don't think he was climbing all over the back of Alonso in Melbourne just to get an extra point in the first race of the season. He just plain wanted to beat him, in spite of the fact that he'd already kissed second place goodbye because of the pace car. (Which, incidentally, all went extremely well until he hit the pit lane limiter button by mistake along the top straight just after overtaking Alonso - Doh! :doh: ).

And no one took any prisoners in turn one either, did they? They weren't exactly testing the water first now they no longer have traction control.

Given the chance, these guys would go hell-for-leather the whole race if they could. It's only fuel and tyre restrictions that stop them.

Yes, strategically they might settle for lower points but I don't think it's in their nature to settle for lower places.

If they see a tailpipe in front, they wanna chase it.

His idea is to retain the current points system for the constructors' championship, but crown the driver who wins the most races in a season.

Confusing way to say it, but I don't think even Bernie has gone that senile, not to mention introducing that in mid-season. (Even though I think he's lying about his age, he must be at least 177 instead of 77.)

He wouldn't be able to do it mid-season.

IMO the points need to be changed to 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, reward recovery drives and good performances in slower cars.

so, if someone wins more than half of the seasons races, he's automatically world champion? exiting last races that'll be, great 'thinking' mr E

12-8-6-5-4-3-2-1..?