If I could change some rules for the WDC...

No idea on how the chase concept works but don't see what's the issue. He's done well enough all year to be able to cruise the remaining races. He won the 4 opening races...reverse your daughters idea, should Hamilton not be eligible for the title because of that?

 

I'd ask your daughter how Lewis could win the championship when he'd lost all those earlier races? I don't think it's about the point system per se, but rather simply about adding up a season-long record. I'm not sure I understand the difference between early- and late-season races from a W/L perspective. Do any other major sports differentiate across the season? The major US sports don't.

 

I wasted some time putting "per se" in italics and Bas beat me to the punch. Anyway, I'm with Bas on this.

 

Spot on chaps.... why does good strategy from Nico suddenly mean we have to change the points system, no one wanted it changed when Elton was winning things, and remember, that donut came fifth to get his title in 2008, the least deserved title in Motorsport to date

 

It's a season long challenge, not a cup competition, it would cheapen the WDC if all you had to do was bring your A game to race 21

 

+1

 

One could say the same about last season. Lewis won the WDC, but lost the last three races. Of course, he did have the WDC in the bag after he won in Austin.

 

The points system has evolved over the decades... go back to the early 80s and prior, and drivers had to drop 1 result from each half of the season. Without looking it up, I believe some WDCs would be different if every results counted to the season end.

In the 2000s, they tinkered with the points system twice - first, giving 10 points for first rather than 9 points, with points going only for the first 6 finishers as had been used prior; then changing to points for the top 10 finishers. You could go back and rescore previous seasons and see WDC results change if using a newer scoring system.

A few years ago, Bernie proposed Olympic scoring, giving gold, silver, bronze medals only, with the WDC going to the driver with... the most golds? I don't recall if he ever elaborated.

 

Sorry the NASCAR chase thing is contrived. The points do not need to be revised, it is the lack of competition between teams and the forced lack of development to allow other teams to catch up that needs work. How have NASCAR's rating gone since it introduced the chase concept?

Provide compelling cars and close racing at venues that people like and want to go to, the sport survives. Stay on the current course or knee jerk regulation changes and faking being "green" at tracks no cares about and F1 follows the road to extinction.

 

I believe the points system was changed When MS was dominating in the early part of the century. I really miss those days. The noise the, the enthusiasm etc.

 

The chase!? Seriously!? The chase? The chase is utter garbage.

Here's a fact on the chase:

Harvick would have been the 2015 and 2016 champion on normal rules. Jimmie would have been 6th in 2015 and 8th in 2016. 8th!

The chase rewards luck more than consistent performance. NASCAR ratings are down also.

They introduced the double points in F1 for the last race a couple of years ago, then threw it out. That would have forced Nico to race for the win in the last race just as a point of reference. I'm still not in favor of double points or changing the fundamentals of racing to please the crowd. NASCAR has proven that won't help ratings.

 

WDC is about the most consistent driver over the season, not the one who happens to win the most races, it's about every position he finishes in. For example, Button wouldn't have been a champ in 2009 without the current rules, as his car became less and less dominant as the season wore on, same for many others.

If you start handicapping winners, you are manipulating results, and thereby then definitely have the ability to 'create' a false champ, rather than anything else.

It may not be ideal for Nico to have played for second these last four races, but in his case it would have meant dicing with a driver who showed full well in Spain he is happy to smash him off the track and argue about it later. If he had been fighting an intelligent driver - a ricciardo, Vettel, Alonso etc - you would likely have seen him vie for the win. This season needed a different approach due to the bipolar nature of his competitor, who also happened to be his teammate. I think he drove extremely well all season, it still takes skill to control his results to second, and he showed Elton throughout the season he is just as fast as him, but has much more race intelligence. Any fool can be fast and aggressive in corners, forcing others off track, fewer can control their drives and make the most of their advantages at the right time. Schumi and Prost were masters of it, Alonso has it too. Elton? He's like a bull in a china shop - good when he has a car advantage and everything goes right, falls to pieces when he faces adversity - proven with his continual moaning about who changes his tyres and operates his jacks!

 

The championship is fine as it is.
Leave it alone !
It rewards consistency and speed OVER THE WHOLE SEASON, not just during the last 4 races.

 

Double point last race!

 

+1

 

Nope.

Awarding more points to the last race devalues all the others.

Let's not turn the Drivers Championship into a dog and pony show.

 

What ever the system of points was put in place, the drivers and manufacturers would still target the results they need to give them the overall Championship. I actually enjoyed the last few races knowing that Nico had to finish to gain the WDC and any serious mechanical or accident would have spoilt his campaign. F1 isn't just about the pure speed, for some it's the tactical 'chess' played by the teams which sets it above other formula. Anyway...

A change in the points structure isn't what F1 needs, it needs closer racing, it needs Ferrari, Redbull, McLaren and Williams to step up and put a proper challenge to Mercedes so that there is a closer Championship.

 

+1. It's fine as it is. Artificially engineering excitement through the points system is just symptomatic relief. To make the season more exciting we need a tech formula which doesn't result in one dominant team for 3 years at a time..!

 

If one team does a better job than the others, it is fully entitled to dominate, as far as I am concerned. Handicapping the winner isn't what F1 is about.

I any sport, you have periods where an individual or a team dominates; why should they be punished for it?

F1 is at risk to be turned into a show business to satisfy commercial interests, and improve its audience by artificial means.

 

Fully agree. Artificial 'spicing' up has no place in F1.

2017 has enough excitement with the substantial change in tech regs to keep us all interested. Let's hope for a good outcome with more than one team in contention for WCC (and hence WDC).

 

I don't care about outright dominance so long as teams are allowed to compete on a technical level, which they have not been allowed to do with limited development via the token system.

In a sport that centers around competition, how they arrived at such a wildly noncompetitive set of rules is beyond the grasp of mere mortals.

 

Like someone else said, how can you cruise thru the first half of the season
and turn it on at the end?
This is NO different than any other sport, be it football, baseball, hockey, teams
'cruise' until they HAVE to win.
Teams win divisions long before the season is over, and 'rest' key players. How is
this fair to the fans?

If this is such a problem in F1, they can do one of two things:
1) Adopt a nascar-style 'playoff' system,
or,
2) Go back to the NORMAL 9-6-4-3-2-1 point system.

I was never a fan of changing the points, but you all have to realize one thing:

If they change the point system to ne what YOU want, abd it seems that some
want Hamilton to win it, be careful what you wish for: it may make it impossible
for any other drivers outside the top 2 to have a shot, or for any other TEAM
to win the TEAM championship.