Double points to be awarded for season finale

2014 F1 season

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The FIA has announced drivers and teams will score double points at the final race of the season from next year.

The change, one of several items which the FIA said had been “unanimously approved”, has been made “in order to maximise focus on the championship until the end of the campaign”. It was agreed after meetings of the F1 Strategy Group and Formula One Commission today.

Points will be allocated as follows:

PositionNormal raceFinal race
1st2550
2nd1836
3rd1530
4th1224
5th1020
6th816
7th612
8th48
9th24
10th12

The 2014 F1 season finale will take place at Abu Dhabi.

Over to you

What do you think of the change to the points system? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.

Should double points be awarded at the season finale?

  • No opinion (1%)
  • No (91%)
  • Yes (8%)

Total Voters: 801

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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398 comments on “Double points to be awarded for season finale”

  1. 2 mandatory pit stops and double points? Nope. What is going on right now? Do we really want another gimmick involved with F1?

    1. I suppose this was made up by the same guy who thought voting on who should have it easier to pass in FE is a good idea.
      The only reason why they would do this is so they can make press releases that “the title is not decided yet” for longer and increase the likelihood of “title showdown at last race” which is quite pathetic. While I do like how this would have changed the last couple of championships, this doesn’t make any sense. Why not go one step further and give drivers the option to double their points at any race of their choosing, but a maximum of 3 times a year. And while we are at it, lets vote on who should get double points DOTW-style. And then lets vote on scrapping FIA altogether …

      1. One aspect of it I do like is that everyone will still have full motivation in the last race, forget about the title race in that respect.
        Doubling is too much, maybe upping the win to 30 points would do the trick. I’d be ok with that.

        1. @magon4

          everyone will still have full motivation in the last race

          They would anyway – they always want to win regardless of the championship situation.

          And in circumstances such as we had this year, where one driver was already more than two wins ahead going into the final race, it would make absolutely no difference.

          1. Hi Keith,
            I understand it would only have changes the outcome of 3 championships and as you rightly point out it would have made no difference this year.
            However, how many additional seasons would have gone down to the final race? I’m sure you have the stats hidden somewhere!

            Just for the record I’m also extremely skeptical about what benefits this will really bring to the sport.

          2. Hi Richard, yesterday I saw someone had a look into that (I think it was Mr. Benson from the BBC), and the last championship that would have finished differently apart from those 3 would have been the 1994 season,

        2. everyone will still have full motivation in the last race

          I won’t. They might as well award points for who can execute the best handstand.

          1. Haha, love it. Great comment. It’s a complete joke, F1 has lost its way.

        3. No way! It is probably the single most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!

      2. @bananarama, great suggestions, especially the last!

        @magon4, Motivation!? what ? Kimi should have put of his operation? the Renault engineers shouldn’t have built ROGROs engine after the Xmas party? Where was the motivation missing at Brazil?

    2. Are all of these decisions made in a vacuum? How else can a group of supposedly “intelligent” people come up with so many Band-Aid type fixes? Next thing you know the highest budding fans will get to vote on grid positions and Ferrari will be allowed the use of three red shells per season if trailing the championship by more than 25 points before a given weekend.

    3. Not to mention that it is extremely unfair to give double points in the last race of the season. I know that it would create a lot of twist endings to a season, but this is a SPORT (or at least it used to be) not a PC game or a game show. They might as well bring back that Bernie’s sprinklers idea from 2010.

    4. @philereid – I imagine that the FIA are trying to do what they can to keep the racing interesting, but will lose any attempt to do this ny practical means because the team’s will vehemently and unanimously oppose any cuts to downforce. So they have to come up with the next-best alternative.

    5. If they’re gonna do this, at least do it for 1-3 races in a season and have the races selected be randomized. But I feel like it’s just a masked attempt to extort more money for entry fees in the following season.

    6. It looks like one day, very soon, we will have it all. DRS, mandatory pit stops, disintegrating tyres, closed canopies, ugly anteater/bekantan noses, sprinklers activated during the race, medal system instead of points (with double amount of medals awarded in the last race) and seven 3-car teams (with a huge financial disparity between them) “duking it out” on twenty tilkedromes.

      1. Luth (@soulofaetherym)
        10th December 2013, 16:35

        This

    7. All I say is “Bernie comeback! I forgive you.” I said it before I say it again those frenchman in the world federations are the biggest problem in sport it’s not doping or betting as bbc sports is saying today.

    8. F1 is dead to me its not F1 any more its a boring economy run while drivers preserve their tyres yawn!

  2. This is beyond a joke. I could understand for a special race, like Le Mans or the Indy 500, where there are strictly speaking higher demands, but Abu Dhabi? Really? Maybe if the race was twice as long then I would understand… Shambles.

    1. @craig-o regardless of Abu Dhabi. Why is a GP now worth double than the rest of the calendar?

      This is the first time a rule has enraged me so much. This is a complete joke. We don’t need this gimmicks, we seriously don’t need it. We don’t need a rule that states that the last GP of the season is now twice as good as winning any other race.

      A bad pitstop now is a lot more of a serious problem in Abu Dhabi. A faulty gearbox, a fault alternator, a random puncture, a marble in the brake duct, everything is just double the problem, and double the reward for the others. The season finale is just like any other Gran Prix, but it happens to be the last one of the season. There shouldn’t be a different points sytem for it.

      Besides, in recent history, from 2006 onwards, only 3 times the title was not decided in the very last race. And when it was, it was absolutely epic. If someone seals it midway through the season, tough luck, he deserved it. Why now does he has to be spoiled because his rival happened to win the very last race of the season?!

      Why if FIA making such a big bowl of rubbish out of a sport I love so much, but it’s rather quickly being converted into a demonstration of idiotic policies, stupid decisions, lame racing, and boring spectacle?!?!

      Why on earth can we just turn on the telly and be amaized with what we see instead of shouting furiously to the screen because what we’re watching is a meaningless waste of 2 hours?!

      I’m so done here… I really really hope that they overturn this… Mark Webber must be laughing in sitting in his sofa…

      1. @fer-no65
        I am gutted too mate . Just when I thought F1 couldn’t get worse . This is so kiddish really . FIA have to be reminded that this is a global sport . I mean .. I am lost for words .and as someone pointed out , the icing on the cake ( the cake is a lie ;-) ) is that the last race is Abu Dhabi .

        They are trying to make snooze fests more interesting rather than just let the finale unfold .
        1) They take away Brazil as the final race ( the one race which has a very good track record of producing thrillers )
        2)They introduce Abu dhabi as the last race .
        3) They make this rule .
        One can only assume from this logical sequence that this is corporate junk to artificially spruce up the lowest rated race of the year .
        Maybe someone in F1f will bring out an article saying this was not the only time such a rule was there and that it was introduced once in the past . Blah blah blah . I am not buying this . This just doesn’t feel right for this age in f1.

        1. @keithcollantine is there any way we can let the powers that be know our opinion to put pressure in them to overturn this?

    2. If anything, the Abu Dhabi race should yield half-points.

      1. Best comment yet :)

    3. Seriously. How much did Abu Dhabi pay for this privilege?

      1. @pelican – It’s partially for practical reasons. Abu Dhabi is hosting a post-season test next year. In recent years, teams have struggled with pre-season testing because Spain has been unseasonably cool and/or wet. The teams need warm, stable conditions to get the best results, and the Middle East has exactly that, and so testing is gradually moving to Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.

    4. maybe because its hard not to fall asleep during it for the drivers as well @craig-o?

    5. This smacks to me of some kind of publicity stunt. Keeps F1 in the press after the end of a relatively dull season.

      Remember Bernie’s medals concept? I think this is similar. Start a controversy – get everyone talking about F1 – change things back before the season starts – ???? – profit.

      1. This is only the SECOND time I read in the swedish press about F1 this year (first time was Vettel clinching the title). So I guess you’re spot on! Publicity stunt big time!

      2. @magnificent-geoffrey I can only hope you are right. Any other option Is pathetic beyond description

      3. it’s different @magnificent-geoffrey. the way medal concept and 2 mandatory pits are just ideas floating around, like some suggestions. this time, it’s the rule already. I hope that (your theory) might have been reality, but I’m afraid not this time.

        1. @adityafakhri The medals concept was made an official regulation, it was then changed back after criticism.

      4. @magnificent-geoffrey can only hope you’re right. I’ve never been this angered by FIA’s rules.

        Could well be the consecuence of a constant change that only moves the sport backwards, but it’s getting seriously annoying for the fans to suffer this sort of thing… Nowadays watching F1 is irritating instead of being a pleasure…

      5. @magnificent-geoffrey
        I certainly hope you’re right. I tolerate racing gimmicks such as DRS and Pirelli tyres better than an average F1Fanatic, but I’m very sensitive when it comes to how championships are decided. I hated the medal concept and I hate this idea as much. It must’ve been years since I’ve been this frustrated because of Formula One.

    6. Do drivers agree with this joke? Why don’t they speak up and stop this thing? I’m missing Mark Webber already!

  3. Ahahahaha very funny Keith, I nearly fell for it.

    1. I hope this is some kind of April Mop or something…….
      the guy who writes the rules need a serious check of his head. seriously, it’s beyond logic.
      the way rulemakers try to build the regulation this way, just like made of story with lies after lies.
      really confused, astonished, and even angry.

      it’s a long ago when I fell in love with this ‘sport’, I seriously need to rethink my passion of it. to be honest, I regret buying airfare for Sepang already.

      1. Makes you wanna bomb the FIA headquarters

    2. Hey Keith! What’s your preferred points system? Wanna come up with one and reward the F1-Fanatic Editior’s Chamipion (or championship) at the end of the year? I may give that more credence than the FIA’s.

      Of course, probably like most people, I prefer the system used whenever I first started paying attention to F1. Would you like to reward fastest race lap or pole? Just don’t tell me your favourite is NASCAR and try to fit a chase for the cup into your stats. :-D

      1. I think the fairest point system would be one where the race times from all the races across the season are added up, and the driver with the lowest total number, i.e. the driver who finished all the races in the fastest time wins the championship. It would recognise the difference of winning a race by say 3 seconds, or by winning a race by 50 seconds, which the current point system doesn’t. Kind of like the grand cycling tours – each Grand Prix could be considered a stage.

        1. What would happen if a driver retires?

        2. I wouldn’t like that – where’s the reward for the guy who battles through with amazing racecraft and overtaking vs. just cruising off from pole à la Vettel?

      2. I think that’s actually a great idea. To have a F1Fanatic’s point system that shows how things would be if the majority of fans had a say in how points are distributed. @keithcollantine, pretty please?

    3. Yeah… Haha… Ha… Ha… Oh dear…

      Who thinks this is wrong???
      -> http://i.imgur.com/MHuW96t.gif

  4. This is ludicrous! Why should one race be more important than another!?

    1. Precisely.

    2. I can understand when the Le Mans 24 Hours or the 12 Hours of Sebring have double points over the 6 hour races in endurance championships. But not when a race is identical to the last, except more dull and less overtaking.

    3. Why not double points a secret race selected by lottery at the end of the year so we don’t know who’s champion till Christmas? More ill thought out knee jerk reactions to the Vettel domination. Why don’t we make Roger Federer use a badminton racket? Michael Jordan should have had heavier shoes. Tiger Woods should only get half length golf clubs!

  5. Double points for one of the dullest races in the calendar. Few weeks ago I was so excited for 2014, but now it’s not looking so great anymore :/

    1. 2014 is going to be a roller coaster ride without a seat belt .

  6. What a scandal would it be if a driver being constantly faster than anyone else throughout the season had built over 40-point lead to his biggest rivals just to loose the championship to a mechanical failure, because his nearest rival would score undeserved 50 points in the last race.

    This must be a joke. Must be.

    1. Alonso would’ve been WDC 2012 after a brilliant drive of Vettel, spinning on first lap. That would’ve been a downer after a great season…

    2. my thoughts exactly and I hope it happens next year. Only if they see how ludicrous it is, they’ll think it over.

      1. Or they might think it’s a success … does someone have an idea to boycott this or so?

        1. @paeschli The only way I can see of boycotting the move is a television boycott: don’t watch the race on television.

          Whether that would make a blind bit of difference is a moot point.

        2. @paeschli – once fans realize that finals like 08, 10 or 12 won’t happen again because of the big point spread there will be enough heat from fans and the media.

    3. What you posted was almost exactly what I said right after reading the article and before I read the comments.

      This is totally ludicrous, and I really do hope that they re-think this.

  7. I’m ok with F1 rule changes, this has been the rule, not the exception. Some people here didn’t even see the days where some points were simply not counted at the end of the season (Prost would have had 5 WDCs…).
    In any case, I would like to see some kind of a Grand Slam of F1, since we are making up rules.
    Monaco, Suzuka, Monza and Silverstone worth double points, what about that?
    Ha!

    1. Some people here didn’t even see the days where some points were simply not counted at the end of the season

      Two wrongs don’t make a right…

      1. But three rights do make a left?

        1. LOL.. but completely irrelevant

    2. @magon4, the discard rule was to compensate for mechanical failure which as you know was much more prevalent then, so at least it was based on a concept of fairness not ticket sales.

    3. It wasn’t that points weren’t counted, just that they only took the best X number of races during the season (or at times the best X number from each half season).

    4. @magon4 I started a forum post very similar a while back!

  8. why not have a raffle for the championship after the last round..might at least have the random result in the bag in the last possible moment.
    Artificial F1 says Bernie.I say stop this guy!
    This is as unfair as it goes.Why should a retirement or a win in the last round be worth more than in the other gps?
    are they desperate or mad!?

    1. also..i want the head of the f1 fanatic who voted “yes”.Are you Jeremy Clarkson (put sprinklers on randomly) by any case?

  9. This is worse than the chase. It says something when F1 is more artificial than NASCAR. I rally can’t believe that this is serious. It has to be a joke doesn’t it?

  10. Alright, who the hell is making these decisions?

  11. What a massive load of crod.

  12. Ah and if they switch Interlagos back to being the last race, then I’m ok with double points at the last race… ;)

    1. @magon4
      If they had implemented in two years sooner, then you beloved Vettel would’ve lost the WDC in Brazil 2012. ;-)

      1. or he would have tried harder, hehe… again, I don’t like the idea, but I do like rethinking the point system from time to time…

  13. Am I the only one who thinks this is actually quite a good idea?
    I think this is quite a good idea as it can keep more people in contention for the title if it isn’t won before the final race.

    This is better then having more points for races like Monaco or Monza.

    1. It unfairly keeps people in contention, I don’t see why this one race is special enough to award double points. Especially as if this gimmick was in place this year it would have ultimately no affect on the championship result.

    2. apparently there are more than 20 of you.

    3. This is better then having more points for races like Monaco or Monza.

      Most people don’t want that either.

      1. I don’t want that.

    4. Yeah, and resetting all driver’s points back to 0 for the last race would also keep more people involved in the championship discussion, in fact it would include the whole field.

      1. I meant you are the only one who thinks this is a good idea.

  14. Firstly, I would like to point out that Formula 1 is my passion and my obsession. I feel I have developed a thorough understanding of the sport following it intensely for the last 16 years and investigating every noteworthy story from pre-war races up to present day. In watching and learning of all these races and championships, I have no favourite. Not in terms of style of success or in terms of regulations. I understand, as many fanatics do, the Formula 1 is an evolving process.
    However, the steps taken by the FIA in recent seasons are ruining this sport.
    F1 for me was enthralling, exciting and intense even in the processional periods. I accepted then as I do today that the team who is winning is there because their team have come up with the best solution for the regulations and have found a pilot worthy of displaying the cars full potential. The rules to spicen up the show may gain a few extra viewers but at the cost of alienating the true fans who want to see racers race.
    I grew very tired of the DRS and tyre rows and did not back either to be a success long term. I fully understand they are not intended to be long term solutions but today the f1 gimmick brigade took a final, unrecoverable step to destroying F1 for the fan and the neutral.
    I refer of course to double points. If Sebastian Vettel wins the next ten championships I will congratulate him. I received a COTD on this website in early 2012 to the effect of ‘if Vettel wins under pressure he will be a legend’. He in my mind has nothing left to prove. This rule however, appears to try to belittle his future success by making the last race of the championship a lottery.
    Consider Driver 1 with a 49 point lead stalling on the grid in the final race. Driver 2 takes he title by 1 point. Is he a worthy winner? He won when no driver before had the opportunity. That to me is a complete scandal. The same applies to constructors. Let’s say Williams score 5 points over the course of next season at three races. It rains in the season finale and Catherham, who have been the same distance behind Williams as Williams has been to Red Bull finish 9th and 10th in a race of 11 finishers. Catherham by this logic would earn more prize money than a team who score legitimately at three events. That to me is wrong. There are too many hard working engineers and drivers in F1 to have jobs and titles decided on a complete gimmick which benefits no party.
    I hope this ridiculous rule is set right before the season commences and to be honest I hope the governing body is changed to people who care about the teams and the die-hard fans more than casual viewer.

    1. Great comment. Even more than DRS and the tyres this particular rule infuriates me. It’s attacking something fundamental about the sport that I can’t really state eloquently but the essence of which you touched upon well. I think the sport I have loved since I was a child is being eroded and contorted into a caricature of itself, all for the sake of the ‘show’. F1 is losing its soul.

    2. I guess any arbitrary system is as stupid as any other @rbalonso, but yeah, it seems that new strategic group of haves (the big spenders club, the big cashers club and the FIA) is really on a run. Now we only need them to install a mandatory MINIMUM budget of say 100-200 million, sign off 3 car customer teams and the sport is saved!

      1. @bascb @colossal-squid I think what infuriates me most about this is that when I watched races in the early 2000’s I thought they were great. Even when Schumacher won I thought ‘well look at 1997 etc where he blew everyone away’. I accepted that the rules had to be tighter around testing, costs and what not but at no point did I think DRS, degradable tyres and double points were the solution. I tried to get a few friends into the sport in 2010 and they genuinely loved it, then in 2011 they didn’t like DRS. For 2012 they liked the lottery of the first 3/5 races then decided it was perhaps too much. For this year they completely gave up. I think where the FIA miss out is that fans enjoy close battles not just overtakes. DRS and tyres is an ok principle but in practice is impossible. To coordinate the DRS to work in every circumstance to just aid overtaking was never going to work. Racing people should have known that.

        1. @balonso Yeah I agree. I’m really missing the days of the late 90’s and early 2000’s more and more. Look at 2008, we had some genuinely classic races and a thrilling Championship without any double points or other gimmickry.

          DRS and tyres is an ok principle but in practice is impossible

          I’m only starting to realise that this is true. Theoretically I like the idea of DRS and tyres but as you state it’s impractical. I was an apologist for DRS, but for the few races where it helped there were three where it hurt. Same with the tyres. A few great races, but mostly driving to delta times and conservative strategies. The time has come for change and double points most certainly isn’t the answer.

          1. @colossal-squid +1

            I was also willing to give DRS and Pirelli tyres the benefit of the doubt until this season unfolded and it became clear that it’s impossible to consistently achieve the desired effect with such gimmickry. Even worse, the FIA have been incompetent with their application of the DRS system and in their dealings with Pirelli as sole tyre supplier.

            No learning or positive progress with DRS has taken place despite 3 full seasons using this device. For example it became obvious that DRS was detrimental to the racing at tracks where overtaking is commonplace in the same areas of the track where DRS activation is allowed, yet instead of restricting DRS activation at these locations or even completely at these tracks, the FIA often introduced extended zones and/or extra zones which exacerbated the situation even further.

            The FIA’s interaction with Pirelli has been woefully mismanaged and culminated in tyres that were not fit for purpose and were literally jeapordizing the lives of drivers, spectators and marshals. The imperative for Pirelli to test its tyres was continually disregarded and resulted in a fiasco involving unsafe tyres and illegal testing which brought the sport into disrepute and arguably also degraded public perception of Pirelli and Mercedes. The confirmation of Pirelli as supplier for 2014 was also finalized incredibly late. Pirelli began development of next years tyres months before they received confirmation from the FIA late in September.

            To make matters worse, when the FIA confirmed Pirelli for 2014 they also announced a new tendering process for a single fuel supplier despite how heavily invested ExxonMobil, Shell, Petronas, PDVSA and Total are in their own F1 projects with different teams.

            Now this rule to award double points in the final race of the season. Absolutely farcical! This is a blatant attempt to manipulate the show at the expense of sporting integrity. It’s just one scandal after another and it was the same under Mosley towards the end of his tenure as president of the FIA. I can’t actually believe the top teams (part of the F1 Strategy Group along with Bernie and the FIA) agreed to this. Just think about that for a minute…

    3. DRS was the nail in the coffin that changed my attitude to F1. Before DRS I took it seriously, now, it’s kinda like light entertainment, X-Factor or something.

      DRS just killed driver skill. Making the guy in front sit there like a duck is, IMHO, offensive to the skill of racing. It allows quick but not very good racers to prosper at the expense of racers. Even IndyCar have it better. Their push to pass system lets drivers choose how and when to use it. They have the same, and its up to them to use it to attack or defend. To me, that is even, it is fair. DRS is simply, to sound like a toddler, not fair.

    4. I received a COTD on this website in early 2012 …

      And you deserve another one for this :)

    5. @rbalonso,@collosal-sqid,@bascb, the trouble with this idea is that they just aren’t thinking big enough, to really make it work it needs more sizzle, more often, I suggest that at every race, before the warm-up lap, the winner of the local “got talent” franchise performs their act and then draws ball from a Lotto machine, each ball drawn according to grid position would have a random multiplier from 1 to 10 for points earned that race, that way the championship would always go to the last race and a whole lot of “got talent” fans would tune in to F1. Should FIA/FOM wish to hire me I would feel duty bound to accept.

      1. @hohum That sounds better than the double points rule. We can have celebrity judges and fan polling to decide things like who gets to “win” Friday Practice! Drivers can perform arbitrary ‘skills’ pre-season before the celebrity judges to determine who gets a drive for the upcoming season! Mandatory advertisement breaks every 5 minutes will help bring funds for the struggling teams like Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. This will all save F1, I have no doubt.

        1. Actually, I think we need time-outs for the ad breaks so we don’t miss any action. Every 5 laps, everyone comes into the pits for a rest stop and strategy discussion.

    6. Great comment. My only tiny gripe would be that 3 points scoring finishes by a smaller team can still be outdone by one higher points finish from another smaller team, although the double points gimmick would make it much more attainable on the final day of the season. DRS, the tyres and now this have all but destroyed my interest in the sport. So, so sad. Guess we better find another championship to follow next year!

    7. Or you could have the opposite scenario: A team and driver finally beats Seb / Red Bull fair and square – except they happen to have their one mechanical failure at the double-points-race!

      In either case; people will be furious and that’s why I cannot shake the feeling that this “idea” was thought out by 5-year olds. It really is nothing short of just terribly dumb as history will forever be filled with raging discussion of who should have been champion, just like it has been since not all points were rewarded.

      Like you I am passionate about F1 and have been basically since I was three years old but I must say that FIA are doing their best to lose me in recent years:
      – DRS
      – Artificial tire wear
      – Forced pit stops
      – Lottery points system
      – What’s next? Teams switch cars during qualifying? Points for best helmet design?

      Every day it seems to become increasingly harder to take this “sport” seriously.

  15. @the_pretender F1 has a history of being artificial in its rules. It has no history whatsoever of concistency and tradition in that respect. It’s just that the idea could be better…

    1. @magon4 Humanity has a history of war . That doesn’t mean we should be okay with waging one now.

  16. This is outrageous. They’re trying to turn F1 into an American style sport with gimmicks which compromise the sporting integrity in order to artificially manufacture excitement. Can you imagine a football league awarding 6 points for a win on the final day of the season to prolong promotion and relegation battles? What really rankles is that the FIA who are apparently so desperate to make the sport more attractive to viewers don’t even bother to ask viewers what they want to see? When have they ever done a fan survey over proposed rule changes? Do they think we’re too stupid to know what we want to see?

    1. @racer The only American sport I watch, IndyCar, doesn’t have DRS and I’d consider it less gimmicky than F1 is already, even without this horrible new idea.

      1. I enjoyed IndyCar more than I did F1 this season…

  17. Why not just give a few points for qualifying, this is darn stupid.

    1. I agree im all for giving points for qually especially the way qually is now were some are handicapped in race, i think 5 3 1 for the top 3 drivers.

  18. It’s not a good idea. It’s simply unfair towards the other circuits. It seems that the new Strategy Group is unable to agree on any sensible changes and just tries to create an illusion that something is being done to make the sport more attractive to fans.

    1. Maybe it will help Bernie get even more money from the country paying to be the last race?

  19. Why not reset the points of the top 12 contenders for the final third of the season, and only let points from that portion of the year count towards the championship? I think another sport has something similar, called the “Pursuit”, or something.

    1. I’m one or two gimmicks away from actually watching NASCAR rather than F1.

    2. @david-a Haha! I know. It’s almost like when you play football with your pals for an hour and at the end “next goal wins!”

      1. Haha! Great comparison. Certainly not something that should be involved in the ‘pinnacle’ of motorsport.

  20. How to make dreadful, tyre-saving oriented, DRS-polluted, only-one-move-allowed races better in the coming year?

    More gimmicks.

  21. Are those guys on crack? What the hell….?

  22. Zantkiller (@)
    9th December 2013, 19:22

    I hope the cost cap causes a breakaway series to get away from this.

    Just utterly ridiculous.

    1. 6 team bosses sit on the strategy group which unanimously voted both the double points & cost-cap through so not sure why either would cause a breakaway threat.

  23. And on the 9th day (of December), F1 signed off on another gimmick. And they saw that it was good.

    ….But everyone else thought it was rubbish.

    1. Only yesterday you wrote your COTD, and then the “strategical working group” thought they should even up the stakes and make you feel even less likely to enjoy it @spud!

      1. @bascb I almost feel like I’ve been a little prophetic here. (not sure prophetic is the right word). When I saw the threads about this on the forums earlier, I did think there was some kind of mistake or rumour, and when I saw it on Autsp*rt earlier, I still did think it was some sort of mistake. I’m horrified to find out that it isn’t. I don’t care much for the permanent driver numbers thing. That’s just a marketing thing, and the Global budget cap does seem to be a step in the right direction, but I’m reserving judgement on that for the moment. The bosses of F1 are tinkering around the edges in a big way though, and it’s getting on my nerves. :(

        1. It does almost feel like my cynical post when they introduced the mandatory 2 pitstops, where I mentioned introducing extras to “spice up the show” came to be truth @spud, I know how you feel about this one!

          The spending cap is badly needed, but this being F1, and the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull being likely to have a prominent say in things, I am only mildly hopeful they agree to anything that will actually help.

          1. Bernie’s sprinklers idea doesn’t sound so bad compared to this jiggereepokery the Working Group are dithering about with. ;-)

            The spending cap is badly needed. It has been badly needed for some time. I worry that more teams will go the way of HRT if they don’t actually stick to it this time. The Hopeful Spud thinks they might actually stick to it. The Cynical Spud doesn’t though. :/

  24. oh dear oh dear oh dear. WEC time…

  25. Good thing IndyCar never relies on gimmicks to spice up their double-header, dual-direction street races with inverted grid, heat-race qualifying with the top 20 bonus points awarded randomly to any driver wearing fingerless gloves and million-dollar bounties awarded to any Forza 5 player that enters the race.

    Also, I guarantee that if the last race was being held at Suzuka or Interlagos, less people would be complaining about the double points.

    1. It probably wouldn’t be happening if one of those were last race. I have a feeling this has someone with deep pockets behind it.

  26. Mark Webber must be so happy that he left Formula 1. The series is a joke and I won’t be going to a grand prix till they sort themselves out

    1. Ha ha ha! I was considering following WEC (along with F1) next year. I’ve gone past considering now.

  27. *checks date*
    No, not April 1st…

  28. Can’t wait for the epic championship showdown on the Yas Marina circuit, it is going to be best ever!

    Seriously. What the heck… why not award extra points for “special” races if you want to make some races different: 100 points for Monaco (+10 more for qualifying on pole for that event), 75 for Spa, 50 for Monza and so on.

  29. This absolute bobbins is up there with the half-time multi-ball idea from that Budweiser advert a while back.

  30. No, no, no , and double NO.

    And if Todt is reading this it’s a Non, non ,non and double NON.

    Just to make things crystal clear I’m not, repeat not, in favour of this change at all.

    1. ah, go on…

    2. Or as Sebastian Vettel would say: “No, no, no, and no again!”

  31. “I deserve the world title because my Abu Dhabi victory should count for twice as much as the other guy’s Monaco victory.”

    – No racing driver, ever.

    1. “I deserve the world title because my Abu Dhabi victory third-place should count for twice as much as more than the other guy’s Monaco victory.”

      Ugh, that’s even worse!

  32. Wow. Driver A leads the title race by 49 points before the last race, with Driver B being second. Driver B wins the last race, as Driver A has a mechanical issue and retires. Driver B gets the championship. Absolutely insane rule.

  33. So we will see an artificial championship decider on an artificial circuit with, no doubt, plenty of artificial overtaking. At least the FIA is consistent with its decisions.

  34. I just wonder who comes up with such ideas, and why those ideas are not consulted in any way with the audience they want to bring in front of TVs so hard. Are they not aware that altering the core of point-giving rules that remained unchanged since 1950 for the sake of “entertainment” could be a bit controversial, to say the least?

    It looks like the FIA tries to resolve problems created by gimmicks by adding even more gimmicks. “DRS removed the art of passing from the sport, and we went overboard with the tyre fragility, forcing drivers to focus more on preserving them instead of actual racing, therefore making the races for a TV viewer dull – so let’s bring the excitement back by forcing drivers to pit twice and double the points earned in the last round.”

    1. @artanonim I think the so called ‘innovative’ rule maker was distracted by this http://www.formula1.com/wi/gi/597×478/Dv0j/manual/11243219973_b75bbd511b_o.jpg at the gala ceremony and in a flurry of stupid emotions wrote this rule down . Bernie , who did not remember anything approved it and he will not remember that he made this rule next year .

  35. I will not be tempted to say anything bad about old people. But it’s obvious some people belong in a home.

  36. Why don’t we just pick numbers out of a hat and decide who gets points based on that? This is ridiculous and could (almost certainly will) make the championship outcome farcical. Fortune or misfortune in one race should never determine the outcome of a championship and that’s almost precisely what this idiotic new rule seems designed to do. My patience with this gimmickry is quickly wearing thin. I love F1 but it’s starting to move further from what a sport is supposed to be.

  37. Awful, awful, awful, awful, awful, awful decision. Awful.

    What if simply because Hamilton is good round Abu Dhabi he wins the title? Or what if a title contender has misfortune? It costs them twice as much.

    Who allows them to pass these ideas?

    1. It’s not about Hamilton,Alonso,Vettel or any other driver , it’s about the fact that the drivers will be awarded points for what they didn’t deserve, to gift a driver 2 race wins when he actually won 1 race is absolutely ridiculous

      1. I completely agree with that @tifoso1989 and I have merely made an example of it!

    2. Its the big spenders (your beloved Red Bull, with Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, Williams and Lotus thrown in) group with Bernies guys and Todts clique that draw up these “refreshing” changes. Now we now what got Todt rubberstamped, eh.

      1. @bascb it’s a sad sad situation

    3. That’s a very good point actually, that this gives an unfair advantage to drivers who excel at whatever the last race of the season happens to be. So Vettel and Hamilton next year effectively get two of a race they like and [insert name here] has to have two of his bogey track.

  38. @keithcollantine, is there any way we can send a petition to the FIA as a website?

    1. I think sending them flowers and champagne congratulating them on a great decision is more likely to see it withdrawn.

      1. I’m tweeting furiously as we speak @npf1!

      2. I am on for that petition idea . anyone know a link . Let us bombard them with stuff . if it gets 1 million petitions , maybe they will look at it . Better just don’t watch the final race . They will know the seriousness once their purses are pinched off .

    2. @vettel1
      I think the only way to stop this drama is the Ferrari veto but i suspect that their silence is suspicious because this is bad for the sport, maybe they were giving a gift elsewhere, Jean Todt passes what he wants and Ferrari get what they want

      1. @tifoso1989 I just pray to my Flying Spaghetti Monster God that the media listen to us, and pressure the FIA with criticism instead of just blindly agreeing.

        They are the only ones who can get something changed now I think.

        1. @vettel1
          I’m on your side but the people that are running the sport doesn’t care in the first place ,all what they want is to make the maximum profit out of it with all the possible ways
          We need another sex scandal

          1. @tifoso1989 not a bad idea: Bernie working his way round all the WAG’s?

            @colossal-squid +1

          2. OmarR-Pepper (@)
            9th December 2013, 23:18

            @vettel1 @tiffoso1989 to see you two agreeing on this one shows the seriousness of this situation.
            If they don’t change this up, I may not see F1 at all in 2014, and the champion won’t be my accepted-and-fair champion unless he doesn’t depend on this stupid rule.
            Saying that. I’m off 2014. Honestly. I haven’t missed a race since Spa 2000, but this is enough. See you everyone just on the blog, but really, I’m thinking of not seeing next year championship (by knowing last race can spoil all, why would it be worth it to see?)

          3. OmarR-Pepper (@)
            9th December 2013, 23:19

            @vettel1 @tifoso1989 to see you two agreeing on this one shows the seriousness of this situation.
            If they don’t change this up, I may not see F1 at all in 2014, and the champion won’t be my accepted-and-fair champion unless he doesn’t depend on this stupid rule.
            Saying that. I’m off 2014. Honestly. I haven’t missed a race since Spa 2000, but this is enough. See you everyone just on the blog, but really, I’m thinking of not seeing next year championship (by knowing last race can spoil all, why would it be worth it to see?)

          4. @omarr-pepper
            To see almost the majority of real fans (whatever team\driver they support) of this sport sick of the FIA/FOM destroying it just to make money is absolutely depressive for me, you talked about the non worthy champion situation which could happen (example : a consistent driver all the year building a huge gap of 49 pt losing the WDC in the final race because of a mechanical failure), as for me i can see another worse situation,imagine under the turbo era a team is having the advantage on a certain track (In the 2009 era Red Bull in Tilkedrome and especially in the Asian tracks or Ferrari which has been historically strong in engine tracks like Monza and Spa), that team will be pushing for his favorite track to be the season final race, and sure Bernie could arrange anything in exchange for cash

          5. OmarR-Pepper (@)
            10th December 2013, 0:35

            @tifoso1989 yes, we are real fans, but unluckily, and well spotted in your final sentence, all Bernie cares about is cash and more cash.

          6. @vettel1 @omarr-pepper @tifoso1989 boycott Abu Dhabi anyone ?

            Ahem or if you were not keen on going in the first place
            try #BoycottAbuDhabi ?

        2. May his noodly appendage guide us through these dark times.

          1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
            10th December 2013, 12:59

            @hamilfan I’m already twitting #BoycottAbuDhabi as you suggested

  39. Plus, at the rate of inflation we’re seeing now, I’m looking forward to the first 1,000 point grand prix at the Zimbabwe Grand Prix 2017.

  40. Surely the worst rule introduced since Sunday aggregate qualifying?

  41. maarten.f1 (@)
    9th December 2013, 19:34

    Okay……

    Hey, aren’t the super license fees determined by the number of points scored? More points == more money

  42. What an absolute crap idea this is, Why it was not announced before the frenchman has been elected an FIA president ? I just hope that both championships will be decided before Abu Dhabi because it will be unfair to the other circuits, you win 1 race but you get double points, i just want to be wrong but i feel that this is a political decision Abu Dhabi one of the worst tracks in the history will become a title decider with an extra bonus, the media attention will be at its maximum level because with this new system many drivers will have the chance to fight for WDC, Bernie would not be very disappointed either ….

  43. Wow. Just wow. What on Earth have I just read? I need to lie down. I’m praying this gets overturned.

  44. How to make everyone watch an awful race on a an awful track : double the points ! Now the race in Abu Dhabi won’t just be dull, but it will be very disappointing…

  45. In short, no. If we have to mess with the points system, I’d rather a point be awarded for fastest lap, and two points for pole position.

  46. i would prefer puting double points in on of each the most important races in each continent one in europe,one in asia,one in N America, and one in S america,plus the european GP,a total of 5 red marked GPS

  47. Did they also confirm the two-mandatory-pit-stop-thing? What a joke…

  48. Firstly, let me say that I hate this rule. I agree with all the previous comments and all future comments knocking this rule.

    However let me argue that a similar scenario occurred in the past. In 1988 Ayrton Senna won the world championship, however Alain Prost ‘scored more points’ than Senna. This was because only the best 11 results out of 16 counted towards the standings. Under this system, Prost could not include points he scored for 3 second places, whereas Senna dropped a 4th and 6th place finish. Effectively under this system some race results counted less than others. This is the exact opposite of the rule changes announced today, where Abu Dhabi will count more than other races. The point I’m trying to make is that not all races have counted equally in the past, and what has been announced today is not a new situation.

    1. @georgeod
      Thanks for this enlightening,this is the first time i know this

    2. there have been stupid points schemes since F1 started, the one you mentioned is one of the worst. being penalized for scoring more points. I though the point systems were finally stabilized.

      1. @canadianjoe Just a guess, but it makes sense if:
        a) reliability is suitably poor that it is unlikely that a driver is going to finish enough races to necessitate a drop (ie. pre 1980s)
        b) not all drivers are going to compete all the races ie. they run the Indy 500 or Le Mans (such as in the 1960s with Lotus) – there is less of a penalty for going off to do that.

        It was definitely time to get rid of that rule by the end of 1990.

    3. @georgeod nice points there . But , still , That doesn’t make this rule less of a ^&*(

  49. WOW!!! this is without a doubt the most ridicules points scheme I have seen in my 38 years of following f1.

  50. I tried to spend some time thinking of a reasoned, logical argument against this, but then I realised I didn’t have to because it’s so obviously dumb it doesn’t warrant the effort – bit like trying to argue for or against capital punishment with a hedgehog.
    Really, really disappointing.

  51. Last time I checked marihuana is still not legalised in most parts of the world…

  52. At least they haven’t introduced a reversed grid system a la GP2. Yet.

    1. don’t say that out load! the FIA could here you.

    2. That will be announced on wednesday, I guess @oel-f1

  53. Just when the sport is on the brink of bringing back some relevance and a new challenge with the new engine/drivetrain format, they have to ruin it all by stupid things like keeping DRS, introducing mandatory 2 pitstop races with regulated stint lengths and making AbuDhabi the permanent and double points season finale (because they are just about the only ones who will be able to pay Bernies no doubt raised fees for staging that race).

    I have never been a big fan of Porsche, but by now the thought of turning into a Porsche/Webber fan and sitting out a year of F1 is starting to feel more and more of a draw on me.

    1. WEC is a squillion times better right now @bascb, and this is despite the fact that I haven’t been following it that long compared to F1. Flat out from the word go, no apparent lapping to a delta time, no magic overtaking switches. Just brilliant and beautiful machines going flat out for hours. It’s great!

  54. Ridiculous, time to stop watching F1

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      9th December 2013, 23:21

      @olivenoire +100 it has really spoiled my day

    2. @olivenoire @omarr-pepper I fear we will refer to 2014 as a year of what it could have been.

  55. Wouldn’t it be brilliant if Vettel wins the title at Suzuka next year?

  56. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    9th December 2013, 20:05

    Right, that’s it. No more F1 for me as it’s beyond a joke now. This is the nail in the coffin. Since 2010 the rule changes have been ruining what should have been a great era. 2012 was a great year but I would have enjoyed it more had they shown all the races live on the BBC and had there been no DRS.
    Time to find another hobby.

  57. A very poor idea to say the least.

    They are trying to make the sport very synthetic just to keep up the “excitement”. Common man! How would one feel if a driver looses the title in the final round just because of this stupid double points system? Ridiculous.

  58. No FIA. That’s a bad FIA. Step away from the NASCAR broadcast.

  59. I haven’t seen anyone comment on a concern with the impact this could have on spending. The expectation of this honeypot at the end of the season is to have a significant effect on championship standings. And at the top of standings we could see one team or driver leapfrog another, but at the bottom of the grid we could see even more drastic impact from these points increases. Drastic impact which will drive the smaller teams to continue development through the last race of the year, possibly spending considerable amounts of money on a bespoke Abu Dhabi setup. No, no,no, I’m not against competition.

    I don’t think that this is the right way to increase competition and decrease costs, two goals which seem to be mutually exclusive.

    Todt said that cutting cost is his primary objective for F1, though that he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it until 2015. This is truly a joke to me.

  60. Not good enough. There was a game show for a while where two contestants were playing a number rounds of random mini games. For the first round, the game win was worth 1 point, for the second round 2 points, for the third round 3 points and so until 10 points for the tenth and last round. This ensured excitement until the end.

    This can be adopted to Formula One easily: the number of the round determines the number of points for the tenth place, with the other points scoring positions scaled as today. This means that the winner of the last round will not get only 50 points, but 475 points!

    Excitement guaranteed!

    1. I can see it now… “So you want to be a WDC?” Presented and syndicated globally. Celebrity guest drivers can have a go too.

  61. I really don’t know what makes me hold on to F1 right now. The noise will be reduced. The overtaking is artificial and as easy as jumping over a toppled down 20 cm high bench. The cars look increasingly ugly. Circuits are sterile and emptied of challenges. News like these make me want to slap each of the members of the Comission and Strategy Group repeatedly on their faces. This is getting ridiculous. I’ve never been so close to quit following F1. I really don’t have any hope for it right now.

  62. What a load of bull. As was said rightly in Autosport’s comment regarding the new rules this is like opening the Pandora’s box. No race should be worth more than the others this is a joke. With permanent driver numbers and the budget cap and the five second penalties they were talking a lot of sense, so they just had to ruin it with this stupidity. Typical

  63. I watch F1 because I like it as a sport. This. DRS. Mandatory pitstops. Excessive tyre deg. What is this? An 80’s American action film?
    Please. Stop.
    If the race was twice the distance, or that sort of stuff. Fine. But it’s not. It’s just to keep more people in the title hunt. Which just screams fake.
    Yes, yes, yes. Vettel has won a few championships long before the end. 2011 and 2013. He would have won those regardless of this rule. It would just have kept one or two drivers in the hunt a little longer. But it wouldn’t have changed the invertible.
    However, would the end to 2010 or 2012 have been more exciting as a result of this? No, I don’t think so. It was tense. As it was.
    F1 cannot be exciting every single time. It’s a sport. It should happen naturally.

    1. You’re right, especially if this is introduced as an entirely artificial way to prevent one driver’s dominance. If it is then a large part of me hopes that Vettel/Alonso/Whoever has the title secured before Abu Dhabi in 2014. It would be poetic justice of sorts for this atrocity of a rule.

    2. COTD here. Agreed in every word.

  64. Why is there a “Yes” option?

    1. @hairs It’s certainly not getting much use. Curiously out of over 100 comments (so far) none of them appear to be from the 8% (so far) who’ve voted “yes”.

      1. I’d check the server to see if there’s a glitch somewhere. Those posters could only vote yes if they were using the excuse

        “oh, I slipped, fell, and landed on his … Yes option”

  65. So, a point given for winning the qualification and an extra point given for the one with the fastest lap of the race, was a “stupid” idea…and now this is okay? Okay…

  66. I’ll be watching F1 from a LONG distance next season. Its an absolute joke now. Laughable.

  67. FlyingLobster27
    9th December 2013, 20:52

    This idea worked rather well a few years ago in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (now merged into the European Rally Championship where the practice is no longer used). Points were multiplied by 1.5 in Scotland for the penultimate round, and for Cyprus, the final event, points were doubled. As a result, six drivers had the mathematical possibility of winning the championship in Cyprus, and they weren’t all complete longshots. Sadly, not all turned up for the crunch, but it was still an interesting experience, in particular because it was a buildup. Also, the championship may have had the Tour de Corse, Sanremo and other fab rallies that the WRC had rejected, but the IRC didn’t have historical events, so it wasn’t too bad.
    F1, on the other hand, have some blue riband events. Although any win is worth taking, ask any driver “which circuit would you really like to win on?”, Yas Marina would likely not be even thought of. Double points or not.

  68. petebaldwin (@)
    9th December 2013, 20:55

    I can see why they’ve done it (money) but it just makes F1 that bit faker as a relevant competition. It’s heading more the way of “sports entertainment” than it is sporting competition.

  69. This has got to be a joke, how about the first 18 races are just practice races for the last one, F1 just lost a fan :(

  70. So a driver with a 49 point lead going into the last race might lose the championship thanks to a mechanical failure. Cue a whole grid full of cars being nursed gingerly to the end of the GP for fear of breaking something and losing two races worth of points.

    On a dreadful circuit where you get very little overtaking.

    I’m not sure F1 has any feet left to shoot itself in at this point..

    1. @mazdachris

      nursed gingerly to the end of the GP

      Oh noooo :(.
      If that happens I will switch off instantly . I really mean it . We have had enough of ‘gingerly’.
      this is racing,not some cookery competition . Where’s the aggression?

  71. The decision to award double points at the end of the season is obviously an idea to keep the lesser fan interested until Abu Dhabi, But what if then Vettel wins it in Russia? Personally; the idea of 1point for pole, 1 point for FL 1 point for leading most laps is a better way of doing it. Similar to the way IndyCar do it and they always have an exciting end.

  72. This is not NASCAR. This is F1.
    I do not want or need gimmicks to keep me interested. I want engineering brilliance and the best drivers battling it out each race. Yes, my F1 would be boring to some, but at least I can go and watch NASCAR and Indycar when I want an alternative.

    We may well have seen different drivers winning, if this had happened in the past. But we would also have missed out on some classic final races. I was already struggling to watch F1 with DRS and this has now sapped my enthusiasm even more.

    1. Felipe would be a WDC

  73. This is complete ********.

  74. Even when the rules meant only the best results counted towards the championship at least all the rounds had the same weighting.
    This just skews the scoring unfairly.

  75. On a quest for the punchline of this very bad joke foisted upon us by the FIA.

    • Just a bad joke designed to make us forget about the mandatory 2 pit stops rule.

    • Applies to all races except at Monte Carlo the drivers must go to Casino and spin the Roulette wheel to see how many extra points they get.

    • Triple extra points are to be awarded for extra special acrobatic dismounts by drivers in parc fermé.

    • Extra points also awarded for post race doughnut competition.

    • Teams on double secret probation not eligible for double points.

    • Ferrari gets double points every race. – FIA says, ha ha, just kidding on that one. Everybody knows there is no preferential treatment in F1. ;)

    • Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrgggghhhhhh! – Sorry, that was just me venting at some of the most ridiculous rule changes we have seen in some time.

    1. FlyingLobster27
      9th December 2013, 21:09

      Or we can just hand the punchline to Alejandro Agag, promoter of Formula E, when he announced the “vote to pass”; in substance:
      “Obviously we have some problems with this idea with the hardcore racing fans… but we are focusing on the 10-14 year olds here.”

    2. • I heard Monty Python were getting back together. I had no idea it was going to be at the FIA.

    3. @bullmello Thank you for this. You made my day. It’s nice to see that the FIA has a sense of humor, or maybe they are on drugs.

  76. I almost didn’t mind the two-stop rule. I voted “No” but I think that wouldn’t change the races too much. But this is just a terrible idea. I want to know what are these people smoking.

  77. F1 has become LAUGHABLE!!…this is NOT racing,It is all fake!

  78. I, for one, would like to propose a fan boycott for the last race of the season. Not only will it, if supported in numbers, show the importance of pleasing devoted fanatics of the sport, but will also save us the time we would have lost watching both a farcical event and a likely boring GP.

    1. I doubt that would make a difference. If you watch on the BBC then your viewing habits are only recorded if you have a special box anyway (they extrapolate from those who do to provide viewing figures you hear about). I’m not sure if sky is the same though- they might record what you watch through the sky box rather than the system used by terrestrial channels. Basically, what I’m saying is that if you stop watching the powers that be probably won’t even realise.

    2. @hobbsy009 +1
      @matt90 I would say if a million people decide to do that , it would make a difference.Let us follow the race onlin . Just make sure you don’t fill Bernie’s pockets . I think most of us crazy f1 fans would do it . Something ought to be done . Unfortunately it has to be switching off your tv or not attending the GP .

      1. @hamilfan Like I said, how? How would anybody even know that you weren’t watching?

        1. @matt90 If a single person does it , no point .

          If a million do it , then they will have some revenue loss in tv coverage . If people stop going to the race in question ( Though I doubt this will happen ) , then a lot of money will be lost and Bernie will have to rethink . That is the only way they will listen .

          We can always follow the race online . I will not watch the final race on TV . I have almost made up my mind . I will follow it online , that’s all .

          1. @hamilfan Like I said (again), how? How would anybody even know that you weren’t watching? You keep repeating yourself without understanding that nobody will miss anybody not watching, because unless you are in a household with one of those devices the viewing figures will not change. 99% of the population could stop watching and it would go unrecognised.

            About actually going to the race you have a point, although like you said I doubt it would affect many people’s desire to go to that race.

          2. @matt90

            I don’t get you . Do you mean to say if there is a steep decline in TV viewership across the world , it will not affect FOM’s income through viewership ?

            I don’t watch it online . I watch the races on TV in a household ( we guys in Asia don’t need to buy sky to watch f1 , majority of the viewership comes through regular channels which almost everyone has and which are priced anyway ) . Suppose a lot , by lot , I mean A LOT of people stop watching on TV , then won’t it have any effect ?
            Am I missing something here ? FOM surely gets some of the money through viewership right ? Even though it may be a pittance compared to money earned from race organizers .

            Bah , irrespective of that , I don’t think this can improve.

          3. @hamilfan Okay, it may be different wherever in Asia you are, but, in the UK, the broadcasters can’t tell what you are watching unless you are one of the tiny number of people who have a special recorder device. About 5000 households- supposedly representative of the UK’s demographics- in the country have a box that records their viewing habits (including how many people in the room are watching the TV), and then they extrapolate the numbers to estimate viewing figures for the entire country. Each house with a box represents 5000 other houses. 22+ million households in the country do not actually have their televisions monitored- so only people with the box can make a difference to viewing figures, and if aren’t one of those people, you can do whatever the hell you like and the viewing figures won’t change.

            It may be different where you are, or it may be the same. But certainly in the UK, unless you are in the tiny minority with a special box, nobody even knows what you watch, and so if millions of people without a box stopped watching something, nobody would know so long as those with a box keep watching. I’d check how it is with you, because if the only reason you won’t watch something is to reduce viewing figures, it might not make a difference.

            Do you understand?

  79. Is it me, or F1 is trying to copy the stuff of NASCAR??? Permanent numbers and double points for the season finale? That last one is like The Chase on NASCAR. Way to go Bernie, way to go….

    1. In defence of Nascar, the chase format works!
      A bit artificial .. maybe .. But it creates something.
      It hypes up driver rivalries, stories.. always exciting championships.
      And in the end it’s always the deserving driver winning.

      1. Agreed. And does this points system help F1??? I thought that, it might be a little bit exciting if in the final race a driver that it’s seconds in the standings wins the race and takes the championship with 50 points plus! But that idea gets ruined with the fact that the finale will be held at Abu Dhabi. Impossible to overtake, impossible to crash, impossible to make a mistake…. the system in that way is nonsense.

  80. Stupid stupid stupid.

  81. FIA, please revoke your new rule to award double points at the last race of 2014 http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/formula1 diffuse it please!

  82. At first I thought that might be good.. but the points awarded are too high!
    Maybe go for a 35 for a victory and such could be a bit better.
    Or higher points for classic tracks (spa, suzuka, monza) but not 50, more like 35 again.

    1. I disagree with extra points for certain circuits. Just because the circuit is hard doesn’t mean that driver deserves more points then others. Imagine if Rosberg got extra points for his win in silverstone. It was the only time this year the winner didn’t make top 3 in DOTW because he won by technical problems. Compare that to India where Vettel obliterated the field.

      1. You are correct, but it would give those tracks an extra incentive.
        It could create something.. But we are not used to it, so we are scared of it…

  83. I remember a good friend of mine (who works in the movie business) once saying “Don’t give fans exactly what they want, they’ll screw it all up and blame you.” and I can’t help but think it makes sense here too.

    Why not try it? AD’s a crap race anyway, they might as well make it more interesting.

    I’ve watched F1 religiously for over two decades, it’s been long overdue to be more arcadey, more inviting, more friendly and less about obsessive technology.

    1. @joshgeake I wish you a very happy 2014 watching your f1 ‘movie’ season while we follow Ross Brawn to fishing or Mark to WEC

  84. I don’t mind boycotting the last race, Abu Dhabi is not a real race anyway.

  85. So the most technologically advanced series is FormulaE/WEC, the most road-relevant series is WEC, there’s great racing to had in all-sorts of series around the world, and Formula1 is…. a gimmicky commercial TV slot? Well I love motor-racing and I already watch enough TV so I guess I have no reason to watch much of F1 next season. I just wish there could be one series where the world’s best drivers all go to race and see who is the best…

  86. I don’t understand why people are going crazy over a rule change which will probably have no impact anyway? So what if the points is doubled at the season finale? Does it really make a difference? No.
    Seriously, F1 fans don’t half like to destroy the sport. Maybe F1 Fanatic should have a policy where if you say something like “I’m never following F1 again” then your account should be banned/deleted, because if you really feel that way about F1, WHY ARE YOU HEREE?!!

    1. @fom-fan
      “I don’t understand why people are going crazy over a rule change which will probably have no impact anyway? So what if the points is doubled at the season finale? Does it really make a difference? No.”

      Just to entertain your assertion for a moment, what if it does make a difference. In a runaway season such as 2013, you would be correct to say double points in the season finale would not make a difference.

      But, what about seasons like 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012? These seasons were decided by very small margins and sometimes by only 1 point. Artificial extra points in the finale has the potential to skew the championship. In 2008 and 2012 there would have been different winners in the WCC due to essentially artificial extra points given in one race out of 19 races. This is bogus.

    2. @fom-fan, Surprise an FOM fan with a Ferrari avatar, likes a rule that would have made Massa, not Hamilton, a World champion.

      1. My avatar was chosen as it is an F1 driver holding a FOM/F1 Communications camera. I just feel it makes a nice image. Connects F1 to broadcasting. Personally I wish Ferrari, a team which claims itself to be the best, yet was unable to win a Drivers championship for 20 years in a row, and a constructors championship for 15 years in a row, were no longer in the sport, due to their provocative comments by their chairman.

        Anyway, I would prefer a double points race to occur maybe on more of a “Heritage” event, such as the Monaco Grand Prix, as it’s a unique track, been around the longest, and offers more of a challenge to the drivers.

        Still, the aim of the rule change is to build more excitement towards the final race of the season, and if the fans & newspaper articles stopped saying “F1 is boring” etc. etc. then maybe this rule change wouldn’t have happened.

    3. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      9th December 2013, 23:27

      @fom-fan first, is that your real name? FOM fan? I start to understand your comment
      @hohum Massa will start to cry right now

    4. If it probably won’t make a difference, then why use it? And if it can make a difference, as it would have in certain years, why on Earth is that a good thing?

  87. Completey LOL on the double points.

  88. I really like this idea! But I have some more that should be implemented that could make it even better:

    – Turbo boost pads in random places on the track
    – Give Charlie Whiting a ‘Random’ button, which causes something to happen during the race. E.g. someone’s car cutting out, or forcing someone to pit for wet tyres.
    – Every so often, without the FIA telling anyone, they have a reverse qualifying. No-one knows when it will happen, but suddenly pole position has to start last.

    Well done, FIA, you’re doing a great job.

    1. I really like your ideas, but I don’t think you’re being realistic at all.

      Consider shells. As projectiles…? Green ones, you fire them, they bounce around randomly and could hit anyone. Red ones, you fire them, they “heat seek” the guy in front of you. Blue, you fire it, it “heat seeks” the current leader.

      1. @gongtong Nice idea , but where is the randomness ? who will decide red or blue ? Oh i get it
        randomize () ;
        ;-). the commentators go ” it’s mayhem again “.

    2. @jamiefranklinf1

      LOLZ I just freakin laughed out loud at the random push button and the reverse qualifying …Ha hahah seriously man, this has to be the most rotten rule ever made in f1 so far in terms of consequences .

  89. To keep the championship undecided until the last race, it would be great to don’t give points in the first 18 races of the season and give points on the final race: you’re 100% sure the title will be decided in the last race :)

  90. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    9th December 2013, 21:38

    The change … was agreed after meetings of the F1 Strategy Group and Formula One Commission today.

    Is not that group Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, Lotus and Williams? How stupid that decision is. It will backfire, some of them will get strong results for many races, just to lose the WDC position in Abu Dhabi.
    Keith please tell us it’s a joke or a “could be”

    1. @omarr-pepper That puzzles me a lot !

  91. I’ll give a less ranty answer. It was implemented, because a lot of F1 fans were going “Nyah, this is boring, Vettel’s won the champ with 3 races to go AGAIN, what’s the point of them even racing for the last 3?” The idea is, it keeps drivers in with a mathematical chance of clinching the championship if 50 points are available in the last race.

    How many articles have we seen here that are saying “Is F1 boring? Is Vettel dominating too much? Is F1 too long?” etc. etc. Maybe if those articles and all this fear-mongering stopped happening, then the FIA wouldn’t need to resort to implementing such regulations in order to appease the “moaners” – as I all them, the amount of fans who at every single rule change or ‘dull patch’ scream: “NO THE SPORT WILL BE RUINED!”

    1. @fom-fan There are many, many ideas to improve competition that are far better than this one. Maybe some of those ideas should be tried before scraping this stupid idea from the bottom of the barrel.

      You just said yourself in your earlier post that it won’t make a difference anyway. So why bother to do it in the first place? If it will make no difference, then it won’t satisfy all the “moaner” anyway, and it’s pointless.

    2. @fom-fan, in the hope that you may actually be connected to FOM I will try to answer your appeal, yes there are people who complain about a dominant driver winning every race but these are not long-time fans, these are casual fans with short attention spans, they loved how the tyres made a different team a winner every race until they got bored with the randomness of it all, these people will always complain that they are bored before they move on to the next big thing.
      Real fans, long term fans, want to see real racing with real cars that have real differences and a real champion at the end of year.

      1. I am not in any way connected with FOM. And even if I was, if FOM took every fan’s viewpoint on board, judging by the majority of the comments on here, we’d probably have a spec series, which IMO completely devalues the technical challenge of the championship.

        It’s a sad truth, that there are significantly less die-hard fans that there are casual fans, as a result, any tweaks that are made are designed to appeal to casual fans.

        “Real fans” will watch F1 regardless of what it is, if the technical challenge for the teams and drivers is still there. Doubling the points for the season finale is hardly going to let a rank outsider win the championship, and if it does, maybe the driver that lost out in the final race should have performed better in the previous rounds, to have built up enough of a lead? Personally, the only ‘gimmick’ that I dislike in motor racing is Reverse grids, in any shape or form.

  92. Slowly watching F1 implode…

    1. Slowly? Its starting to happen really fast.

      1. Good point :)

  93. I propose that “spin the bottle” be played after every GP and whoever “wins” loses all the points earned so far.

  94. thatscienceguy
    9th December 2013, 21:48

    This is actually an extremely clever move by the FIA – driver’s Superlicense fees are determined by the number of points they score.

    More points scored = higher Superlicense fee.

  95. Which clowns among us have actually voted that this is a good idea? Shame on you, you are not fans of competitive sport, you are merely fans of spectacle.

  96. Consistency should be rewarded. It’s as simple as that.

    As much as I would like to see someone other than Vettel winning the championship next year, is is unjust for such a large bags of point to be on offer at the final race.
    As others have stated. A nominal amount of points for pole (say 2), same for fastest lap. What about awarding points for pit crews to go to constructors championship for fastest pitstop of the weekend.
    Any more of this and I’ll start watching Formula E. Oh no!

    1. Don’t encourage them.

  97. Raising the value of the last race lowers the values of the other 18 races. How can that possibly be good for the sport?

    NASCAR’s Chase for the Championship was a stupid idea that hasn’t worked to generate excitement, but this is even more stupid. At least NASCAR spreads the stupid over 10 races; F1 will be cramming a full dose of stupid all in one race.

    This is such a stupid idea, I have to think that cooler heads will prevail at some point, and this will be reversed. I certainly hope so.

  98. Cock. Absolute and utter cock.
    Every time the FIA and other have tried to ‘improve the show’ they have produced utterly squelchy results. DRS, mandatory tyre changes, marshmallow tyres and now this.
    I cannot believe how annoyed this has made me. All those departed greats must be spinning in their graves – Enzo, Chapman, Tyrell, Clarke, Hill, Senna. What would they think has happened to their sport?
    Who exactly is on this F1 Strategy Group and Formula One Commission? Mickey Mouse, Super Mario and Dick Dastardly? How much did Abu Dhabi pay?
    Utter self-erectors: all of them.

  99. What? Why…?

  100. If they want to make the championship closer, budget cap and equal prize money, with small bonuses for individual race results, give the lesser teams as much as the bigger ones to narrow the gap

  101. 09/12/13 The day F1 officially became an entertainment medium and stopped being a sport. RIP.

  102. what is this, WWE?

    1. WWE is less ridiculous at this stage.

  103. Sign this petition:

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      9th December 2013, 23:28

      done, but we are not even close to 10000… and that’s not a F1 contact form. I did it just in case

  104. No wonder they moved Interlagos from the last spot: imagine a World Championship being decided on a classic track where one can crash into walls and stuff.

    I’d rather they staged two races for the last round with the usual points awarded for each than this.

  105. Is this an April Fool’s joke? (looked at the calendar, no not 1st April.) What have the FIA been smoking or injecting?

  106. ShaneB457 (@shaneb12345678910)
    9th December 2013, 22:10

    Mixed feelings on this.

    Firstly. I think it’s a cool concept. The idea of double points at the finale means that more drivers would potentially have a mathematical chance of winning the championship, which could lead to more excitement. Plus it puts lots of pressure on the drivers/teams to not make mistakes. Overall, it heightens the drama and tension for the finale, which can only be a good thing.

    But, having double points at a race track like Yas Marina is mindblowing really. A terrible track to have the finale and this new rule. I dont think as many people would be angry if it were Interlagos instead. Can you imagine a dry/wet race like in 2012 which had so much excitement, and add on top of that double points.. it would be great in my opinion.

    My main concern with this is the direction in which F1 is going. More and more gimmicks are being added one by one like DRS and highly degradable tyres. The sport is slowly but surely becoming more and more artificial after each season, and it’s becoming alarming. I wouldn’t be surprised to see sprinklers beside the track or reverse grids in the near future.

    Oh dear..

    1. The thing is I don’t think if the finale was at Interlagos this would be happening. I feel there’s more to it than meets the eye.

  107. Now, the best thing that could happen next year, is that both WDC and WCC would be already won on the previous races. Total backfire to the FIA, the F1 Strategy Group and the Formula One Commision.

    1. @crandreico That might just make them do double points at more races (Singapore onwards?) So be careful what you wish for.

  108. What if? What if this rule was in place for the 2008 and 2012 seasons we would have had different winners in the WCC.

    2008 –
    Hamilton would have gained 4 extra points for a season total of 102.

    Massa would have gained 10 extra points for a season total of 107 and the WCC.

    2012 –
    Vettel would have gained 8 extra points for a season total of 289.

    Alonso would have gained 18 extra points for a season total of 296 and the WCC.

    This rule change is a bogus artificial stimulant that discounts the results of all the other races in that season.

  109. this is insane. but i think i heard something like this a few months ago. ridiculous!!! unfair and random!!!
    on the other hand, a special race at the end awarding more points (not double, but a 30% increase) could be cool: a longer race or something employing the test drivers with the official drivers. another option could be giving classic tracks more points than the standard, but not abu dhabi…

  110. Hopefully half the field will threat to boycot and create another series again.

  111. Man this is an absolute travesty!!!!!! Get ready for massive booing at the podium ceremony at the season finally if this gimmick unfairly decides the WDC.

  112. Michael Brown (@)
    9th December 2013, 22:41

    2012 was a close year, so I went and doubled the points earned at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Here is the top 5 of the Drivers’ standings at the end of 2012
    1. Alonso – 296
    2. Vettel – 289
    3. Button – 213
    4. Raikkonen – 208
    5. Webber – 191

    Hamilton lost out the most due to his retirement, dropping to 6th overall, only 1 point behind Webber. There were no other changes whatsoever to the Drivers’ or Constructors’ Championships, besides Hulkenberg taking 10th from Perez.

    So Alonso would be WDC, by an artificial points system (I know more people wanted him to be WDC, but this is clearly not the right way to do it). The season finale should be treated like every other race in the season. Does the FIA even think anymore?

    1. As much as I would have loved for Alonso to take WDC , this is not the way to do it .

  113. This is almost as terrible an idea as DRS, although at least that made sense in theory. Make the race double length and this might be acceptable (like how in WEC le Mans is worth a bigger points haul due to its length and prestige). As it is, this is the latest in a long line of gimmicks which is seriously making me care less and less about F1. The COTD from the other day had it right. F1 is in poor shape and only getting worse.

    1. I’ll add to that. What’s next, a bloody race for the championship? Spare me.

  114. So 22 races, now down to 18……

    I think this is dangerous, and could lead to some ‘crashgate’ tactics, a la ‘Whacky Races’, especially being so rewarding for the front spot…….. There is some serious point in here, somewhere!

    1. Btw it’s my bday today, and I came on here for some good news to cap the day off with…..talk about downhill!

  115. Sir Stirling Moss would be finally a F1 champion with this points system.

  116. Whaat? Wait, what?
    Oh, oh.
    Wow.
    I mean, wow. I don’t know what to say. I don’t understand. Who thought this was a good idea?
    I understand the need to have a thrilling finale, but this is completely wrong.

    Can someone stop this?

  117. Appaling rule! What if there was extreme heat, what if there was an freak accident, then the second could catch up as much as 50 points! Ridiculous… what a Slapstick measure!!!!

  118. If somebody wins 2014 only due to getting double points at the last race, I imagine most fans will consider them a fake champion and the rival who lost out an unofficial yet real champion. I certainly will. I will be embarrassed if one of my favourite drivers ‘wins a championship’ like that.

  119. So all people against this artificial idea of double points, please sign this petition to revoke it.
    http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/formula1

  120. Just shows how much effort is put into F1 by FIA. No wonder whole thing is a mess right now.

    I’m afraid due to all the “corporation” there is no turning back, F1 will become a prime time show for masses, it will be so shallow, people who barely knows what a racing car is should get it, so the sponsors and other stake holders get their money worth.

  121. This has got to be about the most ridiculous idea the FIA have come up with. It even beats the stupid idea of having a flap on the rear wing that allows for false overtaking and having tyres that are as fragile as cold custard. It is the FIA’s constant meddling that is ruining the sport.

  122. Not really going to make a difference when Vettel will be well over 50 points in the lead of the championship before the start of the final race anyway!!

  123. This Christmas, I wish people with some sense sit at the top to avoid further embarrassment to my fav sport….DRS seems much easy to chew now..Seriously affecting the credibility and integrity of the sport here !!!!!!

  124. Just one thing to said about FIA decision making

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      9th December 2013, 23:32

      @saddest day of the month today. As I said before, I’ll just visit F1F next year to know how the races were. Not worth seeing F1 next year. Unless they go back.. Let’s hope these 3 months before the first race make them go back on the most stupid change in F1. (More than DRS and degrading tyres)

    2. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      10th December 2013, 0:22

      @celeste I’m so struck I confused your tag and tifoso1989 in a previous comment as well.

  125. I have to say that in all of this nightmare situation, the cherry on top of this excrement cake is that the 2014 finale will be in Abu Dhabi. That track is becoming more and more a colossal monument to the folly of modern F1, a cathedral of terrible track design, of money put above passion or fans and the most fitting track on the calendar at which to introduce this detestable rule.

  126. This has got to be the most stupid idea ever!! What is going on??? They are raping F1 for Christ´s sake… Will these gimmicks and attempts to help some ever stop??
    *Felling disgusted and ****** off*

  127. Well, I hope the race is stopped early (the floodlights go out or something) so half points are awarded!

  128. As far as I am concerned Abu Dhabi will be a non championship race next season.

  129. I wonder when (and perhaps more crucially why) F1 collectively lost the confidence to just be a racing series and instead felt like it had to do something to appease the people who don’t like it, and will never like it no matter what it does? It feels like all this does is ruin the sport for the fans, while doing nothing to generate interest from new parties. It’s a real shame to see such a great sport reduced to abandoning decades of great tradition and continuity just because a few people said it was boring.

    1. @mazdachris Ratings = money. They’re trying to please everyone to make more money. And trying too hard in the process.

  130. I telling you know if this costs a driver the title its pathetic, yes we like title deciders, but honestly imagine next year Hamilton is 26 points ahead and he is champion in normal circumstance well what if he as the bad luck and gets took out(as is often in last races for Ham(always has some problem with the car) and sayVettle comes 2nd and wins the title or even if Vettel wins he should finish 1 point behind not win the goddamn title. Its ridcolous i seriosuly think if Alonso or Hamilton lose a title off this they would probably walk, i seriously believe that would happen guys, we all know their battling for their legacy at the moment, would Vettel fans even be happy if Vettel won the title in this way. Even if soe driver has the worst luck ever for the 2014 season nd was leading loads of races and had failures no way des it make it right, this truly is worst rule i have ever seen, id rather have DRS for the whole lap than this. This is meddling with the points, we know how competitive it is these days guys. I am absoloute shocked, can you honestly see Alonso losing out in that way and carrying on(it may be an advantage) i think also if someone won it inthat way they seriously would have no fans whatsoever, who agrees? I know for a fact i would not cheer if Ham won in that way, and i know his talent deserves more than 1 title its unreal. WOW i hope this changes surely people int agreeing man the drivers wont like this.

  131. Way to Brown-Nose Adrian Newey, awarding double points on HIS track?

    Pathetic.

  132. What makes me laugh is people only saying it should not happen because of the trcak, i dont care weather its the best track their should not be double points, seriously what if someone has a reliable problem or gets took out and the race is wet and you get someone like Button 2010 winning the title from nothing. It should not happen anywere. It is wrong to penalise someone if they have a mechanical.

  133. You know, I wouldn’t be bothered if the last race is going to be in Brazil, but no some idiot decides to put one of the most boring races (and predictable) on the calendar last and say it’s worth more. I think this is just Bernie scrounging for money.

  134. Don’t forget children. ‘What to points mean? Points mean PRIZES!’ Especially to the FIA who have just awarded themselves a pay rise of up to $548,000, for the extra 101 points in the season. $6000 per point for the Champions and $5000 for all other points scorers. Not a bad little earner.

    1. That’s a good point. So it’s just another way for the teams to be milked for all the money they have. No wonder they need to ‘cut costs’..

      1. @mazdachris

        That’s a good point.

        you mean double point ;-)

  135. And this comes days after Todt gets…. ummm… ‘re-elected’. Pathetic. There are just so many things wrong with the FIA and F1 it’s difficult to know where to begin. Transparent governance would be an idea, but who am I kidding.

  136. I think it was the COTD yesterday or read it somewhere on here where someone said that they had been a fan for a long time and had just about enough of the gimmicks and would tune in to “hope” the changes in 2014 may turn their interest around.

    I read this and said to myself, a fan of 16 years or so, “You know what they’ve got a point but I love F1 too much to turn my back on it”.

    Then I went on Autosport and then now here today, to find that double points will be awarded in the last race. It was the only time that I’ve been a fan and said “This sport is becoming a joke”. I felt utterly gutted. It’s like when you do something embarrassing and your parents aren’t angry, they are “disappointed in you” and it hits you much worse. I’m disappointed in Formula 1.

    As far as I’m concerned F1 is on it’s last legs for me. I don’t mind the DRS, the tires and the new powertrain rules, I didn’t even mind Vettel winning the last nine races because you know what as a Ferrari fan, what goes around come around. It’s just life. But that’s just it isn’t it. This has been angering me in life as well, the willingness to appease every single person. As a coach I say to my players, football isn’t for everyone, neither is the weight room and neither is playing time. If you don’t deserve to play, then you won’t play. When you change the point structure for a single race, just to keep people in the championship fight it gets ridiculous. Someone who is 50 points down with a single race to go, in my opinion, has not shown enough during the season to warrant a championship. They don’t deserve it.

    The fact that it would change only 3 of the past 20 championships is irrelevant. It’s the fact that it COULD happen. I think I read a tweet earlier saying that they wish the championship will be sewn up in Brazil next year with a lead of 51 pts, just to anger the FIA. I couldn’t agree more.

  137. Somebody call IT for me, my computer’s not working. The date says “December 9”, not “April 1” …

    Seriously, it is a joke that any GP should be worth more points than any other. It is beyond a joke that the GP chosen for this honour is Abu Dhabi, and not Monaco which might almost be excuseable. Does anyone imagine that a team or driver that finished second in the final race, but lost the title by less than 25 points to the winner of that race, won’t be screaming blue murder? And have a pretty good point doing so?

  138. I prefer if they had like a Grand Slam where they award double points for the 1st race which will be always be Australia no matter what. And award double points in Monaco, Suzuka and Interlagos

    1. But in tennis those events are longer matches (for the men) and more rounds. Being larger, and by definition far more prestigious, that makes sense. Even giving the more special tracks points is unnecessary and unfair.

      1. True but Formula 1 could always have Quali on Saturday and Races on Saturday and Sunday when there is a grand slam tournament weekend on. I see how its unfair for the circuits when other circuits get more points in the one weekend. But Bernie suggested an idea of a Grand Slam

  139. The 2% of f1f readers who have no opinion on anything but feel the need to let people know that they don’t care seem to be working in cahoots with the 8% who love everything FIA/FOM want to ensure that opposition to FIA/FOM gimmicks cannot be stated as 9 out of 10 F1f readers. If you have no opinion on anything why not explain why you don’t care one way or the other, but if you don’t care about F1 at all please don’t dilute the majority position.

  140. wow…one race more valuable than the rest? :S i dont get it

  141. if youre 49 points behind coming into the last race..do you really deserve the chance to still be champion in the final round?

  142. It’s like the NFL saying touchdowns scored in the last minute of a game are worth double.

  143. /Checked date… not 4/1.
    /Pinched self… not asleep.
    /Flips table.

    I have nothing constructive or even thoughtful to say about this rule, I’m just out.

  144. 30 – 24 – 22 – 20 – 17 – 15 – 14 – 13 – 12 – 11 – 10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1

    imho, all 20 drivers deserve the point …..if alonso finished in 18, and maldonado finished in 12, logically pastor should get some POINT, not just to be accumulated in drivers position at the last season. This way, everybody will fight till the end …right now, for what purpose they fight each other just to get 12th position ???? nothing just an empty point

  145. I think it is a great idea. But it might seriously upset the driver who loses out on a WDC after leading for most parts of the season.

    Also it could raise possibilities of unwanted crashes with teams trying to influence result with the help of a teammate or sister team.

  146. There could be tracks where one/some driver(s) are better than the others. In this case the double point system will prove to be a bigger disadvantage to a few and advantage to a few. Very unfair.

  147. …And each driver’s steering wheel will be inside a Piñata. First to find it gets on pole.

  148. OK.It is over now.Goodbye F1.I’m off to IndyCar and WEC from now on.Is there any chance we could get indycarfanatic.co.uk or wecfanatic.co.uk to follow @keithcollantine?

  149. It’s a joke isn’t it?

  150. The double point finish in the final race is the most stupidest rule the FIA ever made since the 2005 race tyre strategy.

  151. Why not pitch pennies to decide the WDC.

    I didn’t watch the last 4 races because the latter part of the season wasn’t that interesting to me. RB had it in the bag. Doubling the points for the last race wouldn’t have made me watch.

  152. No, just no. No one Grand Prix is more important than another, just because it is the final race doesn’t make it any more important than the first, or the 3rd or the 16th.

    1. @geemac – Especially if the track in the final race happens to favor one team over another. Wrong on so many levels. It’s not as if teams and drivers don’t want to win races already. Bogus rule.

      1. @bullmello Well the last race won’t always be Abu Dhabi and the teams all know what tracks they’ll be racing on ahead of the season.

  153. i think its more fair if every team had like a joker that they can use it in a random race based on their decision that can allow them to double their points in that exact race :/

  154. F1 is turning into the “Family Feud” Double points?? LOL!

    Im glad I stopped watching years ago.

  155. Make Spa the season ender!
    That’s the best way to implement such a weird rule! :p

  156. Richard Stewart
    10th December 2013, 6:24

    What if the top scorer wins the last race?
    I suggest a handicap rule. The winner loses 3 places in next qualifying. This will make him try to get a better position in the next race. Also prevents a run off victory. 2nd position gets 2 place grid penalty and 3rd place gets 1 place grid penalty. If the driver gets additonal grid penalty for next race, the worst one takes affect. This will also make points scoring unpredictable and even out the scores. Also it will encourage driver to have no choice but win unless he wants to retain fourth place all the time. For this case, to prevent a consistent 4th placing to have advantage is to rescore like this:
    1. 25 pts
    2. 20 pts
    3. 15 pts
    4. 12 pts
    5. 10 ptrs
    6. 8
    7. 6
    8. 4
    9. 2
    10. 1

  157. “Yeah hello again, it’s Mr Howard, I called a couple of weeks ago about organising some buses to take Webber fans to go watch WEC, yes well um, I’m going to need more buses.”

  158. Wow…Bernie is just trying to make sure the new supermo has a big handful of problems to fix. As well, how can Todt continue to let this madness happen? First KERS, then DRS, and now double points? It’s funny how transparent Bernie is trying to do everything he can to get Ferrari back on top, yet nothing is working. When will the racing get back to being pure again? KERS/ERS should be only about providing supplimental power to the gas engine and not as a push-to-pass. DRS gives faking passing…not matter how many zones you give them. Double points will do what? Give Vettle more points to gain for a larger gap at the end of the season?

    Wouldn’t it be funny if the final round was rained out to the point that only half points were rewarded? Oh wait…the final is in Abu Dhabi, huh? Heaven forbid, we are held in suspense with a great ending to a season (R.I.P. 2008 season).

  159. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    10th December 2013, 7:04

    I bet Webber is jumping for joy at the fact that he got out while F1 was still relatively pure.

    This is just ridiculous!

  160. I think one way a rule like this could work is if the likes of Bernie and Todt were forced to wander around the circuit blind-folded during the race and any driver who runs them down gets bonus points.

    1. Damn, that’s a fine idea!

  161. Just stop it! Enough with the stupidity F1! Your attempts to ‘improve’ the sport have tried our patience with KERS, DRS, stupid tyres, rev limits and rubbish deserted tracks. Now this. Just stop! What’s next? Rebrand the whole thing as MarioKart F1 and let WWE Wrestling run the show?

  162. Each race involves broadly the same effort. Awarding double points in such an arbitrary fashion is stark raving bonkers and wholly inconsistent with sporting principles.

    Teams spend huge amounts of money – and effort – to shave a couple of tenths off a lap time. Yet engineering ingenuity could be trumped by arbitrarily awarding double the points for a single race? Where is the logic in that? F1 is all about intense effort, judgement and ingenuity. This proposal is more suited to a game of bingo; it’s a gimmick.

    Add points for pole position and fastest lap. I could live with the occasional fluke pole for a backmarker, if they got a lucky break in wet conditions. Allowing double points to be awarded arbitrarily, introduces the risk of a whole season of skilled racing and strategy being nullified by chance circumstances. A win at the final race gives the lucky driver the equivalent of two wins and that’s just not fair.

  163. I have got an even better solution to “spice things up”. After the final race of the season, there should be a coin toss, and if the driver who is second in WDC wins it, he automatically gets 50 points added in his tally, that way people will be interested right up to the end…. (even after the end)

    It is that ridiculous……

    1. @sohebbasharat “Yeah…it was a close season and I was…yeah…not sure if I’d win again or whether Fernando might get the extra points he needed to take the championship. And…yeah…Lewis, Kimi and Romain were all in contention as well. But…yeah…I knew it was 50-50 when Charlie tossed that coin. I guess we got lucky. When Charlie said it came up heads, I said…Yes Yes Yes! Love you guys! Yes!”

      It really is that ridiculous.

  164. enough!! i had enough! this is it, **** F1.

  165. Lewisham Milton
    10th December 2013, 8:22

    One point for a win.

  166. I can already see the endless forum debates over who ‘really’ won the 2014 title when the leader by 49 points has an engine failure on the last lap of the last GP allowing 2nd place to steal it in the dying moments.

    It would be so unfair, and just add to the lottery element, not just for the teams and drivers fighting for the championship but lower down the grid too. Will teams save a fresh engine for this race to minimise the chances of a failure? Will they spend more on developing a specific package for the final weekend than any other?

    It has occurred to me in the past that the more races there are in the season the less likely we are to have a title decider in the last race. But that’s no excuse for artificially prolonging the championship. If this goes ahead it will devalue the championship in many peoples eyes (if it actually has an effect on positions, which it might not). I would not be at all surprised if they do a U-turn on this due to public outcry, but we will have to wait and see.

  167. @keithcollantine What a sad day . I think everything has been said already . There are enough sarcasm posts for a full article on f1f .So I am not adding to it. My question is can anything be done by the media ? Is it possible to give them a tap on the shoulder or does it all come down to viewership only.

  168. I’d really like to read all 300+ comments here, but I don’t have time.
    Here’s a crazy scenario.
    We have gearbox and engine limits, on how many you can use. With double points in the final race, teams will either conserve newer gearboxs \ engines for this race or deliberatly gain gearbox penalties at the penultimate race to have a relatively new gearbox \ engine for the final race.
    The penultimate race will be the setup for the double points race.
    It would be within the rules, but it would not really be racing.

  169. I saw a comment elsewhere (apologies if someone has already written it here) – that rather than double the last races points, each team/driver must nominate a ‘joker’ race at the start of the season at which they will receive double points. It adds a degree of strategy as opposed to lottery. For example, Vettel may think: “I always go well in Japan, I’ll double my points there.” Hamilton may go for Canada, Caterham for Monaco or a race where there are several retirements.

    That’s not to say that Hamilton/Vettel/Caterham would definitely finish their joker race, which would add something special to it. As much as I hate the “final GP is double” rule, I think I’d actually be ok with this “joker” alteration. Does anyone have any thoughts on it?

  170. each team/

    driver must nominate a ‘joker’ race at the start of the season at which they will receive double points.

    It’s a Knockout? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Its_a_knockout :D

  171. They might as well add power ups and turtle shells and make F1 into a full blown mario cart spin off.

  172. David not Coulthard (@)
    10th December 2013, 9:27

    It’s much fairer to give double points to a double-length race instead. Having said that, I’d certainly like to see a double-length final round.

  173. May I just add a point – which might have well been made in the plethora of comments above – FOR giving out more points in the last round.

    I emphasise round, because although giving more points for a single race is laughable in my opinion as well, holding a double-header of races on a single race weekend would actually make sense for me – and bring the same result.

    It does not have to be two full races (for cost-related reasons), a sprint race besides the normal one would suffice.

    Opinions?

    I think this is a forward-moving idea, because it allows for the same intentions (i. e. putting off the time when teams choose to focus entirely on next year), but with a bit less bias between different events.

  174. This is a boon for those who may have a unreliable car!
    Blow out in 2 or 3 races won’t be a problem anymore…as you can score in Abu dhabi…LOL..

    Rather this rule should have a clause…
    i.e if there are mathematically 3 or more drivers in with a chance of WDC or teams with a WCC only then use it,else it is just rubbish.

  175. This is a boon for those who may have a unreliable car!
    Blow out in 2 or 3 races won’t be a problem anymore…as you can score in Abu dhabi…LOL..

    Rather this rule should have a clause…
    i.e if there are mathematically 3 or more drivers in with a chance of WDC or teams with a WCC only then use it,else it is just rubbish.

  176. I think if they want to test something, they do have a sister organization now in the form of FORMULA E. Let them try it out there and then see how it goes.

    If it is a successful one and then bring into something big like FORMULA 1, which was never changed for years. Rather than testing it for one year then make some controversy and then change back.

  177. Oh dear FIA, brace yourselves.

    A mob is coming.

  178. The drivers should all pull into the pits on lap 40 (a la Indy 2005) so that only half points are awarded.

  179. It’s money for the FIA, guess the Abu Dhabi guys wanted a bit more now they have the most important race on the calender.

  180. Artificial methods of creating competition are merely tools that take away from the true spirit of sport. If however the FIA are serious about improving spectacle and excitement they have to allow for more overtaking. We all know how to do that, reduce downforce. Simple. Grow some b*lls FIA stand up to the teams who oppose this and give us back driver skills not

  181. What in God’s name is going on with Formula 1!? I mean sure, the last seasons which were dominated by Sebastian were not the ones I enjoyed most. But seriously, are you kidding me? Double Points for the last race? It’s ridiculous! It would would be the same as giving extra points for each overtaking, or extra points for in-race-donuts. This is a downfall for F1 and I am very disappointed. I have been fan of F1 since 1998 and haven’t missed too many races, even those were Schumacher has dominated as Seb is doing now. I mean, every era comes to an end, so why do they have to do it artificially exciting? The same can be said of those carrer numbers. OK, that works in the NBA, but do we really want to remember our favourite drivers by a number? I seriously don’t want to see drivers having numbers like “Vettel 34” and “Button 99”. This has worked for over 50 years now and nobody ever had complains. And what about the 2 mandatory pitstops? It is likewise silly. Instead of destroying the exitement we all had until now, FIA should really reconsoder their ideas about the sport we love to watch.

  182. This is the kind of very stupid idea I’ve learnt to expect from Ecclestone. But how did he manage to get everybody on board? Is Abu Dhabi paying that much that everybody is getting a share of it? :|

  183. First the DRS, then pirelli tyres. Maldanado to Lotus and now this. everytime theres news about f1 it makes me rage. this sport was a passion now turning into a gimmick in order to get people who barely watch f1 into the sport (also those who think f1 cars go in circles and thats it). Cheers F1 Strategy Group and Formula One Commission for ruining this sport only god knows what ur thought process was!!

  184. Wow, over 350 comments in under 20 hours. What hath the FIA wrought!

    I think this is really stupid. No single race should be worth more in championship terms than any other race, especially since most races are nearly identical in terms of the duration and distance covered (barring Monaco which is an anachronism, but we like it anyway).

    That being said, I’d be okay with the double points for the final race under certain conditions:
    1)The final race is held on a circuit that’s been on the calendar for at least 20 years, so it’s a race with some historical value. (This will let Hungary in and keep Sepang out, but better than a finale at Yas Marina)
    2) The final race runs to at least 450 km (or 1.5 times the average GP), preferably up to 600km.
    3) Drivers get new powertrains for the final race, so they can go hell for leather and not worry about something blowing up.

    Do all three of these things and then the double points thing is justified. Otherwise it’s just a stupid gimmick. I’m with #BoycottAbuDhabi folks here.

  185. If they are planing something like this than divide the last race and make it a two 45 minutes races.

  186. Double points in predictions championship also?:)

  187. If the final race was going to be held in a classic F1 track like Monaco, Spa, Suzuka or Interlagos I would be tempted to say ‘why not?’ .. but Abu Dhabi?.. No thanks !

  188. Been away for a few days and come back and see this. What have the FIA done, its a needless gimmick and it didn’t need to be done.

  189. Wouldn’t it be funny if Vettel won the championship by over 50 points and then thinks, “nah, I’ll not bother with the last race”.

  190. No wonder the Indian government thought F1 is just entertainment. Hardly a sport anymore with a gimmick like that. Next they’ll bring in the medals system and a Qualifying title. Who got the FIA so drunk to think this was a good idea: Kimi?

  191. If any race is going to receive double points it should be a race that actually means more than the other races, like Spa or maybe Monaco which are effectively jewels in the Formula 1 calendar.

    DUMB! DUMB! DUMB!

  192. No. Dumb. If we’re going to re-imagine the championship(s), and there’s really no reason do do that, here’s a radical thought. Assign drivers to cars round robin style. Every team/car gets every driver at some point. That would provide a fair comparison of both drivers and teams. Both the mfg & driver championship would be more meaningful and accurate. Who wouldn’t love to see Vettel struggling with a Marussia a couple times a year?

  193. Double points is completely stupid by all counts, but so too is moving Brazil out of the final spot. THAT alone makes me watch the final race, it’s a great race and almost always entertaining with lots of action – Abu Dhabi on the other hand? Snoozefest. This leaves a very sour taste in my mouth.

  194. Absolutely dreadful idea. I’m stunned.

  195. F1 died years ago, the ridiculous continues.

  196. F1 just keeps getting dumber. Drives away the fans whilst not gaining any new ones. Casual fans will always be casual.

  197. Imagine a young driver finally makes it to a top team. He has a good season and lies second, 40 points away from the WDC leader going into the last race. The leader gets taken out by a third driver at the start and, due to this dumb rule, this hands our young hero the WDC for the year. For the rest if his career, his championship will forever have an asterisk next to it – the year the old fools at FIA made up extra points on the last race.

    What driver wants to have an asterisk next to his title?

  198. I miss Max Mosely. Never thought I’d say that.

  199. This is the dumbest thing in the long history of F1 dumb things.

  200. My letter to the FIA:

    If you want F1 be a similar sport like NASCAR, you are in the right direction. First the best idea ever: “double pints” for the final race, someone is very SMART in the federation!!!!.
    Then why don’t included a oval race, that would be healthy for F1.

    So in a couple of years F1 will be the sister of NASCAR, and some stupid pilot could race a F1 car.

    F1 will be dead very soon. Thanks a lot for taken me away the smile of my Sundays!!!!

  201. Worst Idea Yet

  202. I am a Nico fan but Hamilton has been the best driver all year if he is robbed of the championship because of this stupid double points F1 will be a farce

  203. The only time double points will ever be acceptable is when the usual race length is doubled. Obviously this cant happen In F1 because of the lack of Race refueling. However a 2 Race weekend could be fun, you get points for the first race and your position equates to the position on the grid for the second race. Of course this would never happen especially F1 needs to cut costs, and it will mess around the broadcasters television schedule. But if they had to keep such a stupid points system this would lessen the blow.

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