dans79 wrote:zeph wrote:In 1984 Lauda win his third title by a half point. Prost won 7 times (vs. Lauda's 5) and had more points, but the rule was that only the best 11 results counted and thus Lauda earned the title. Nobody remembers stuff like that, everybody knows Lauda won his third WDC. Nowadays, nobody would suggest Lauda didn't deserve the title.
I think double points suck, but it wouldn't be the first time a WDC was decided in such a blatantly unfair and arbitrary manner. But at least the "11 best results" rule was intended to be fair -to cancel out DNF's due to circumstances beyond the driver's control. The double points rule is there only to reduce the chances of the title being decided long before the end of the season.
Some people remember stuff like that. Senna beat Prost with the exact same rule infarct.
The old points scheme put emphasis on the best results spread out over an entire season. If anything that rule shows who is more deserving of the tittle, because it puts less emphasis on luck (bad luck). Double points in the last race is the exact opposite. luck factors into the equation more, because it puts a lot of emphasis on one particular race.
The definition of WC is having the most points at the end of the season under the rules that apply, not the fastest driver per see.
If Ecclesone's plan from a few years back had come trough, HAM would be WC right now (most wins in a season) and looking back, MAS would be champion in '08.
That Prost lost the WC twice when he had more points then his teammate is unfortunately, but maybe it means he didn't take enough risk.
But I'm very impressed with HAM this season, he's controlled, fast, waits for opportunities, not afraid. For me there are two reasons ROS is still so close. One of course is the bad luck HAM had with one more retirement and having to start from last place twice, but also that the Merc is so far ahead of anybody else, that even when everything goes wrong, his teammate comes second without any difficulty.
