The 2007 World Drivers Championship Redux

[STEALTHY]

I never said it was a good system, but it will be one that rewards the race winner.

[Racer_kyle]

Leave the system the way it is, but award:

1 Bonus Point for Pole position

1 Bonus Point for Fastest Lap

1 Bonus Point for leading a lap

1 Bonus Point for most laps led

[STEALTHY]

I'd agree to 3 of those points, but not the 'leading a lap' part.

You'll end up with a nascar style points system where somone could lead most of the race, crash out on the last lap, but still get more points than the winner.

Most laps, pole position, and fastest lap would only be adding 3 points per race (as opposed to 50 odd with leading a lap) which could work well, especially seeing that in other tiers, its not always the race winner with the fastest lap time.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by STEALTHY

I never said it was a good system, but it will be one that rewards the race winner.

It is a good system ! Specially if you don't like calculations...

[Fish_Flake]

Originally Posted by FPV GTHO

Why go back to 6 points paying positions when theres still the problem of lower end teams not scoring big points unless its a freak race? On any normal weekend, Renault Williams Toyota Red Bull and Honda have been competing for 7th and 8th.

The difference is that the lower end of the grid is standing on much firmer footing financially now than they did in 2001-2. The troubles of Prost and Arrows were known for quite some time, but despite Alain Prost's and Tom Walkinshaw's best pleas, no wealthy backer stepped up to keep them afloat. There's concern for the future of the lower-tier teams at the moment, but survival is threatened by regulatory factors, not economic ones.

That list of teams competing for seventh and eighth can be concisely summed up as "Everyone But Spyker." Yet even Spyker, formerly Jordan, formerly Midland F1, and soon to be Force India, has no problem finding a new group wanting to buy their way into Formula 1 when the previous one goes. Prodrive was only one of several team proposals for 2008. There are people who want to invest the money to race in F1 in the present day; that didn't happen in 2002.

[FPV GTHO]

That doesnt mean they dont deserve to be racing for points. Carlos Ghosn is almost looking for a reason to pull Renault out at times, and this year if they were never competing for points on 7th and 8th their year would look alot worse than it has. A situation like that could even be the final straw for Toyota as its been a good while theyve been fighting for 6th on genuine pace. Spyker may keep finding buyers, but these buyers havent been prepared to do the hard hards. Midland bailed, and so have Spyker now. How long do you think Mallya will stick around before trying to get a profit for the team?

[ICEMAN]

Im a big fan of the idea for bringing back a point for:
Fastest Lap - Pushes drivers to go hard even if they are leading the race, because in some circumstances ie. Brazil on the weekend a point could mean a championship.
Qualifying - It will still give a driver a chance of leaving the weekend with one point even if they dont finnish the race, plus it once again will become a bigger battle for pole as a single point can be vital.
Most Laps Led - Its a good idea to award the driver who has been consitant throughout the race, and not to mention you will see less team tactics come in to play as on the weekend, because ferrari would have wanted kimi to lead the most laps to get that extra point to make sure of the title, so they still may of switched but alot earlier, and then again it causes people to attack eachother for the lead not just sit behind and wait for the right opportunity!

i wanna see those 3 come back in! would make a fantastic championship!

[RT]

Fish_flake. Thanks for the hard work and the enormoius value of these data.

It's this kind of excellence in the knowledge available in the forum that makes me glad I've joined.

My respects.

RT

[strider]

I join in the chorus of praise for Fish_flake's original post, but think some thought should also be given to his alternative points scoring system detailed in post #22.

It may save the teams oodles of money but I'm still not convinced by this two meetings per engine rule. It definitely means that at a given point the racing stops, although the BMW pair and Rosberg seemed to forget that in Brazil!

This may be a figment of my imagination, but I think I heard someone say that from next year the gearboxes have to last four meetings. If you knew how much effort went into keeping, say, a McLaren gearbox running throughout just one meeting this year, you'd say that was impossible. I'm talking about the mechanical side here, not whatever hydraulic or electrical glitch caused Hamilton's 'box to take time out in Brazil.

If drivers are going to have retirements due to mechanical problems brought about by such rules, then in my view some allowance has to be made in the points scoring.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by strider

If drivers are going to have retirements due to mechanical problems brought about by such rules, then in my view some allowance has to be made in the points scoring.

Or alternatively don't award, or reduce the emphasis on, the driver's championship. This would enhance the constructor's championship and mean that it is truly a 'team' prize. The best team who produced the most reliable and consistent package would win.

This would also enhance F1's relevance to 'real world' motoring.