Bernie Ecclestone says that a winner-takes-all scoring system will be in place in 2010 after the FIA bowed to pressure from the teams to drop the new points structure this year.
The new system, which would see the world championship handed to the driver who scores the most wins – albeit without the Olympic style ‘medals’ element – was dropped on Friday after the teams called into question the FIA’s authority to make rule changes of this scale so late into the season [see separate story HERE].
Ecclestone told the BBC that the system would be in place for 2010 however.
“It will be supported by the FIA and it will be in the regulations, so when the people enter the championship, that’s what the regulation will be,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek programme.
Ecclestone, who is adamant that the new system will make Formula One more appealing, said he was disappointed by the FIA’s decision to scrap the new system this year.
“If you go to the athletics and look at the 100m you’re not looking at the guy that’s second, you’re looking at the winner,” he said.
“To make any changes when the entries have closed, you have to get a unanimous agreement between all the people that have entered, and it would appear that some of the teams didn’t like the idea.
“The whole idea is nothing to do with winning the world championship, the idea was to make sure people raced in every race to win, not to be second or third and collect points.”
“Lewis (Hamilton) last year was second in a couple of races he could easily have won, and he was quite right in being second,” Ecclestone added.
“If I’d have been his team manager I’d have been complaining if he’d been racing to win, in case there was a problem in the car or he fell off the road.”
