Also, while Frank’s idea is well-taken, I disagree that every finisher sould get points. I am in favor of opening up more of the grid to points, but the drivers should need to battle for something during the race. Otherwise, a driver could sit back in P20 all day and get a point that could impact the championship chase.

Last season there were 7 different winners, BMW and Torro Rosso were muscling in on the top 4 and Renault returning back to form.

By included a medals system, it will make teams focus on specific races and less on others, so we will see domination on certain circuits by McLaren and Ferrari even more so than there is at the moment.

If anything, add another 2 points to 1st place and make them need to overtake to win the Championship!

It also smacks of Ferrari International Assistance!

You mention Alonso’s title campaigns.. a bad start for Ferrari, then a Schumacher going all-out to win every race and a careful (boring) Alonso. It doesn’t matter whether the championship goes to the last race or not, it was pretty pathetic having Fernando looking like an old woman for pretty much the whole season and Schumacher looking like the knight in shining armor..

Lewis’s (first) title will similarly forever be tarnished by the fact that he almost lost the championship through his “go slow and keep out of trouble” antics at the last race. It was once again a pathetic season end for a “champion”.

It’s not Alonso’s or Lewis’s fault. I’m sure they would have preferred winning the race and the championship. As things stand, the two Ferrari drivers would have made worthier champions because they at least tried to win every race..

The points system thus clearly sucks for the driver’s championship at least at the front; which in all honesty is all that counts. Being 4th or 5th makes no difference even to the drivers. It’s the wins and podiums that matter.

The constructors championship is similarly unbalanced. Here people do care whether they come 7th or 8th!

Unfortunately with the grid as tight as it has been recently giving points only to the first 8 cars produces a shamble lower down the grid. 2x Ferrari, 2x McLaren, 2x BMW, 1x Renault, means that there is only one slot left for getting (low and behold) one championship point. Leaving aside Toro Rosso’s emphatically unfrozen engine advantage, we would have ended up with the rest of the grid on no more than a few points, most of which come from sheer luck, be it choosing the right tires at the right moment or being lucky with the safety car.

Bernie’s idea of two different scoring systems is thus not a bad one:

Driver’s championship: focus on top few places, reward wins and podiums.

Constructor’s championship: focus on true performance over the season, reward consistency with both cars.

The thing that’s worst about the medal idea is the medals. It’s not the olympics; it’s not a true “sport”. “Wins”, “2nd places”, “3rd places” is much appropriate. Same points system as the constructors on top of that.

Constructors: Give everybody who finishes points, not just the top eight. How about 25, 20, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

This way you can get the top runners to take the risk to overtake (no time for losers), while letting the constructors rankings reflect their true pace. Or phrased negatively: no more driver crowns without risk and no more arbitrary constructor’s rankings.

Perhaps also fewer crashes down the grid, because finishing lower than 8th is still better than not finishing.

At the moment, it’s all crashes and overtaking down the grid as the desperate scramble for 8th place intensifies and all prudence and judgement at the front. I for one, would like to see things the other way around.

- The championship could, in theory, be decided by the end of July in 2009. So what would be the point of competing any further or watching the rest of the season?

- What motivation do the team and drivers at the back of the gird have for being motivated? If the top 3 places are dominated by the same drivers each race, then would there really be anything to aim for?

- Consistent, professional and tactical driving isn’t rewarded but dare I say it, aggressive, dangerous and “anything to win” attitude is.

Bernie, stop messing around with an excellent sport. The 2008 season was by far the best I’ve watched and it wasn’t over until the last corner. How can you say there was no over taking when it was exactly overtaking itself which decided the championship.

No wonder your wife is leaving you!!

Having spent a great deal of time in Korea, I can tell you they totally dig the Olympics. Samsung is a massive sponsor of the Olympics and LG are pretty jealous about that. Samsung also runs the World Cyber Games which hands out medals and is considered ‘the Olympics of e-gaming’ (their words).

So, the wallahs at LG have said, ‘I say, old chum, we rather like the Olympics. How about we switch to medals rather than pesky points? Here’s a few mill if you can manage it…’

It might seem silly, but the Koreans are still seriously proud about the Seoul games…

Medals are not a dumb idea because they’re different, they’re a dumb idea because it won’t change the show.

Only one of these incorrect stewarding decisions on it’s own could have been corrected for the right result in the championship but neither were. Since any place below a win is worthless unless countback happens, the FIA’s efforts to prolong the title battle (putting aside theories of Ferrari favouritism) would have delivered the wrong result under Bernie’s proposed scheme.

Since 2nd places have no value except in the event of a tie, the stewards ability to strip a driver of a deserved win in error gives them far too much power

Also, Nelson Piquet Jr lucked into 2nd place in Germany. That would place him above Webber and Trulli, although Glock would survive above him on countback of 4th places. It would however put him and Glock behind Nico Rosberg on countback of third places.

It’s down the field where this system can make more of a difference. The drivers in the McLarens and Ferraris made a lot of mistakes this year but in most years would be expected not to. Someone might work hard for consistent 4th, 5th and 6th places throughout the year which would count for nothing against a lucky second.

And yes, as people have pointed out, mostly the season would be decided quicker – giving the FIA more reason to try to make more cack handed alterations earlier in the season to try to keep it alive.

Have I missed anything?

In four of the years the title would have been over before the end of August and in two cases it would have been finished in July.

whoever it was that invited bernie to watch the olympics this year need shooting.

Grandprix.com make an interesting point:

A look back at the last 10 seasons reveals that the system being proposed would have changed the outcome of the World Championship on only one occasion: this year, when Felipe Massa won six races to Lewis Hamilton’s five . In the nine other seasons the champion would have been the same but the date by which the title was decided would be different. In four of the years the title would have been over before the end of August and in two cases it would have been finished in July.

What’s to stop that happening again? How utterly boring will it be know that the drivers’ championship had been tied up with three or so months to go?!!

if drivers are to be allowed and encouraged to overtake, rules need to be consistently enforced.

I whole-heartedly agree.

2008 was a season heavily marred by the stewards and inconsistent decision – if drivers are to be allowed and encouraged to overtake, rules need to be consistently enforced.