Driver with most race wins to become 2009 F1 champion

[QUOTE]Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has approved a change to the points systems for this year’s drivers’ championship, which will see the title awarded to the driver with the most race wins. The rest of the standings, from second to last place, will be decided by the current points system.

If two or more drivers finish the season with the same number of wins, the title will be awarded to the driver with the most points, the allocation of points being based on the existing 10, 8, 6 etc. structure. The constructors’ championship is unaffected.

The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council accepted the proposal for the new system from Formula One Management at a meeting in Paris on Tuesday. An alternative proposal to change the points awarded to drivers finishing in first, second and third place to 12, 9 and 7 points respectively was rejected.[/QUOTE]

[URL="http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/3/9024.html"]Official Formula 1 Website - Driver with most race wins to become 2009 champion[/URL]

Personally I think this is a load of rubbish. You can't be consistent and win the title anymore, and if your not winning a race you could just retire to get fresh parts for the next race. Or an I missing something.

Just saw this on ESPN. Not sure how I feel about it. It could be more fair, but the points system awards for overall consistency than just straight race wins. Last year Hamilton had the most consistent year and won, Massa had more race wins but also finished further down the grid more often.

[url]http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/874706-post110.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Dino Scuderia;874724][url]http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/874706-post110.html[/url][/QUOTE]

Sorry, lots of news seems to get lost in that thread. Thought a proper thread would reach more people. :o

this is bs

I dont think the drivers with no chance of a win will simply give up and retire to get fresh parts or whatever. First of all with the new engine life restrictions they cant get as much benefit, and secondly those races where they chose to settle for 2nd rather than 1st can still decide the title. There'll be races where Driver A cant match Driver B because Driver B's car is half a second a lap faster. Even if Driver A can push themself half a second faster, they probably cant do that all race without crashing. The smart drivers know when to give up a fight, whether theyre fighting for wins or for points.

The natural order of the championship might still end up with 2-3 drivers with 4 odd race wins each. One driver might push themselves all race just to crash out, when the guy they were chasing could crash out as well just a couple of laps later. Had that driver still only gone for 2nd rather than 1st, then that'd be one more race win for them rather than a DNF.

I don't mind the rule, as there are still incentive for points in terms of WCC, and it really won't be that much of an issue unless you have a driver that wins 9 races in the seaon and ended losing the championship under the old system, which in that case he deserve to win by the virtue of that anyhow. If the Championship was as tight as it was the last couple of season then it'll come down to the end of the year and each protagonist will have 3-4 or 5 wins each. And it just make the guys try that much harder instead of sitting back in 6th place waiting for a Toyota to crap out at the last corner....

I don't think anyone 'waits'....both F1 races I attended all the drivers seemed to be flat out the whole time whether they were in contention or not.

too little, too late, I have given up on F1. I am looking forward to free sunday afternoons in the summer....

[QUOTE=henk4;874768]too little, too late, I have given up on F1. I am looking forward to free sunday afternoons in the summer....[/QUOTE]
Watch WTCC if you want great racing.

I can see Bernie's logic behind the idea - more incentive to win, more exciting racing - but it just seems to me like a solution to a question that nobody was asking. As Dino said above, good drivers don't hang about when they have a chance of winning or overtaking. They're racers, it's what they live for. Even back down in the field where there's no points on offer you see people pushing to catch the guy in front purely for pride. The problem has been in the past few years that because of the aerodynamics of the cars it's been very difficult to get close enough to put a move on someone. It's not for the want of trying on the drivers' behalf.

Look at Hockenheim last year when Hamilton came tearing through the field in the final laps, taking risks all over the place to claim the victory with a few laps remaining. Look at Nurburgring 2 seasons back when Alonso put that brilliant and highly risky move on Massa on the final lap in the wet to win the race. Neither driver there was thinking "oh I'll just settle for 2nd place and not bother pushing".

With the aero rules hopefully vastly improved for the new season we'll see cars being able to follow each other much more closely, and hopefully more overtaking. There was no need for this meddling with the points system, the point system was never the culprit for any lack of overtaking. And I think the fact that the majority of fans and people within the sport thought that Bernie's plans were misguided when he first mooted the idea a few months back makes it all the more frustrating that Bernie/Max have pushed the new legislation through, when clearly it is against the tide of public and expert opinion.

The proof will of course be in the pudding. However, if we look back at last season Massa would have won the title with Hamilton second if these new rules had stood. So who was the most exciting, risk-taking and bold driver to watch out of the two? Hamilton, beyond any shadow of a doubt. Bernie's system would have meant the title went to the least entertaining driver of the two, not to mention the one with fewer points. :confused: :rolleyes:

[QUOTE=Jack_Bauer;874790] So who was the most exciting, risk-taking and bold driver to watch out of the two? Hamilton, beyond any shadow of a doubt. Bernie's system would have meant the title went to the least entertaining driver of the two, not to mention the one with fewer points. :confused: :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]
I don't want to restart the discussion, but he was also the most dangerous to others, which you might have included in your list of his capabilities.

[QUOTE=henk4;874792]I don't want to restart the discussion, but he was also the most dangerous to others, which you might have included in your list of his capabilities.[/QUOTE]
People like carnage. It follows Lewis in his wake (:rolleyes:). People watch F1.
I personally think this system is flawed and much prefer the old system, possibly with one of the alternate points systems we devised in the F1 thread.

So if I'm not in the top three after about the halfway point I guess I should just pull in the pits to save the car for the next race. I predict a very high attrition rate for lots of strange reasons.

Theres still the Constructors Championship to be won