Double Points @ Final Race

[timbo]

double point in the last race also makes the rich teams have an even bigger advantage, keeping up with the development
race i.e. spending lots of money doing what everyone else is is better that getting it right from the start of the season

Pretty much. Note how McLaren performed in the final races this year.
And smaller teams may do a DNF for several races to have a fresh engine and try do or die strategy to grab some joker points.

[astracrazy]

Today F1 lost its sporting identity and has officially become 100% an entertainment business. Can you imagine if the premier league decided to award double points on the last game of the season.....

they are trying to solve a problem which isn't there.

I bet Bernie will now be trying to charge the tv companies and venues more for this race as it has more relevance

[i70q7m7ghw]

double point in the last race also makes the rich teams have an even bigger advantage, keeping up with the development
race i.e. spending lots of money doing what everyone else is is better that getting it right from the start of the season

Pretty much. Note how McLaren performed in the final races this year.
And smaller teams may do a DNF for several races to have a fresh engine and try do or die strategy to grab some joker points.

This year, a fresh engine wouldn't have been worth much. Next year though, whoever has a fresh engine for the final race could cash in.

It's a crazy rule change. Points for poles and fastest laps makes more sense, but still won't prevent someone from dominating.

Vettel drove a flawless second half to the season this year and scored the maximum available points. Under any points system he would have scored the maximum available points!

The only thing that might have made a difference is if there was only 1 or 2 points between first and second. Vettel would probably still have won, but not as early. So, something like:-

1. 20 points
2. 18 points
3. 16 points
4. 7 points
5. 6 points
6. 5 points
7. 4 points
8. 3 points
9. 2 points
10. 1 point

Since we are talking crazy ideas, how about 1 point for every position you gain in the race from your qualifying position?

[Richard]

At last they don't have push to pass based on phone votes ... errr.. .. yet ... http://www.formula1blog.com/formula-1/f ... t-message/

I've always been a fan of the old running start at Le Mans, how about xpanding on this and let the drivers dash from 50 meters behind the grid to give the slower qualifiers a break and the spectators would just love it?

Why only 50 metres? Formula E drivers run 100 metres for their pitstops. http://www.fia.com/championship/fia-for ... ampionship

[Sebp]

Why only 50 metres? Formula E drivers run 100 metres for their pitstops. http://www.fia.com/championship/fia-for ... ampionship

Wow, those FIA guys making the rules have really gone completely loopy!
What are they smoking? Me want some!

[MOWOG]

Several of Xpensive's suggestions match my own finely honed sense of the ridiculous, My own goofy suggestions would be just to have the drivers swap cars 3 or 4 times a season, (wouldn't you love to see Vettel in a Marussia?) or require a mandatory pit stop where the drivers get out of the car, sprint down pit lane, spin around twice clockwise and three times counterclockwise, kiss Charlie Whiting's ass, then sprint back to their cars and roar off for their final stint. Reverse grids always make for entertaining racing and sprinklers at each corner controlled randomly by computer would "spice things up" nicely as well.

But in the final analysis, the sport has once again peered into the mirror and decided that it is indeed the fairest of them all. They REFUSE to acknowledge the structural weaknesses built into the current and coming regulations, weaknesses that preclude good, close racing at the front of the pack. I for one care not one jot whether Caterham or Marussia gets the Dead Last But Finished trophy. Don't much care who is jousting for 13th place back in the pack. Or 8th, 7th and 6th place either.

Formula One's greatest weakness is that is focuses entirely on the cars to the exclusion of the drivers. We all want to fantasize about being a racing driver but few of us lie awake at night dreaming of curvaceous side pods. What NASCAR has proven is that fans are passionate about the drivers yet F1 relegates the drivers to merely a supporting role. That's just stupid. The many who have commented in this thread about how the sport has lost its way and how the racing used to be so much more exciting in the golden days of yore are really saying that the concentration on the cars is boring.

We want to see drivers nipping and snapping at each other's heels, slip streaming and late braking, employing real tactics, in other words, doing all the things that make great drivers great. DRS is idiotic because it allows a second tier driver to breeze by when there is no way in hell he could do so in the real world or real racing. BOOOOOOR ing.

I always hear about how any team can stand in the way of rules changes, but time after time after time the teams go meekly along with the most ridiculous ideas and knuckle under to cockamamie notions thrust upon them by Bernie or the FIA or Flavio Briattore, for all I know.

There is no need for all this silliness. Forget all the idiocy that gets baked into the "spice up the show" cake. Get rid of aero, ban difusors, focus on mechanical grip and let 'em race! [-o<

[Phil]

The double points system is an especially bad idea for the sole reason that not all tracks are equal in the sense that some cars/drivers favour different tracks. By doubling the points on one event, you are giving more weight to an anomaly and favour the team/driver who excel on that track – which pretty much goes against the whole point that the championship should be determined on the performance across the entire season where every event is handled equally.

When favoring or downplaying such a rule change, one should especially figure out the potential impact first. There are various examples on how flawed the premise is of awarding double points for the last events – what about the mid field teams who struggle to keep themselves in F1. A situation where an equally struggling competitor lucking into a good result at an event that is awarded double points could yield catastrophic results for the other ones – which IMO is not right.

[donskar]

Anyone else notice that not a single fan, or fan based group was consulted in this process?
There should be a transparency in the process rather than what is happening now.
FIA has now beyond dought crossed the line into comedy.

Why should they consult the fans? F1 isn't a democracy. You don't have any stake in the sport other than as a bystander.

The sport exists as we know it today because of us, the fans.
walk down any path and it will eventually lead to the fan tuning in on TV.

no, No, NO, NO. Respectfully, you are wrong.

The "sport" exists because of the advertisers and the media they use to push their brands through exposure before, during, and after the races. They do NOT care about fans, when "fans" means enthusiasts like us. What they care about are "eyeballs," total number of TV viewers, internet impressions, etc. Some demographic groups are more important than others, but racing geeks like us is NOT one of those groups

We should have seen some sort of artifical interest-builder coming some weeks ago. That was when Red Bull sponsor Infiniti's CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) expressed his concern that Red Bull's domination would dilute the impact and value of Infiniti's sponsorship. Alarm bells sounded. That is why this abortion of a rules change took place: to maintain audience numbers in a series that, frankly, has become a series of boring processions to the average viewer (none of whom read this forum). F1 is a marketing vehicle. Remember:
It's not a sport, it's a business.
It's not a sport, it's a business.
It's not a sport, it's a business.
It's not a sport, it's a business.
It's not a sport, it's a business.

[Sebp]

Thank you Mr Seymour for putting it down so eloquently!

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/3043 ... t-gimmick/

[Kiril Varbanov]

In order to capture the latest waves, I ran a new poll on the front page - http://www.f1technical.net/poll/index.php?dispid=265

Do you approve the "Double points in the last race" regulation in 2014? Cast your vote now.
My short answer is No. I can certainly imagine double points awarded at the end of the Premier league ... After 38 games...

P.S. I was thinking to include all rules changes, but then some may be deemed OK, while others to be scrapped right away, so one by one...

[Gridlock]

Provided the venue that benefits from this rule change is impartial and doesn't stand to gain anything from it I don't see what the problem is.

[timbo]

no, No, NO, NO. Respectfully, you are wrong.

The "sport" exists because of the advertisers and the media they use to push their brands through exposure before, during, and after the races. They do NOT care about fans, when "fans" means enthusiasts like us. What they care about are "eyeballs," total number of TV viewers, internet impressions, etc. Some demographic groups are more important than others, but racing geeks like us is NOT one of those groups

We should have seen some sort of artifical interest-builder coming some weeks ago. That was when Red Bull sponsor Infiniti's CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) expressed his concern that Red Bull's domination would dilute the impact and value of Infiniti's sponsorship. Alarm bells sounded. That is why this abortion of a rules change took place: to maintain audience numbers in a series that, frankly, has become a series of boring processions to the average viewer (none of whom read this forum). F1 is a marketing vehicle. Remember:
It's not a sport, it's a business.
It's not a sport, it's a business.
It's not a sport, it's a business.
It's not a sport, it's a business.
It's not a sport, it's a business.

While you are correct on the motivation behind that decision you miss the problem. The question is, will the double points rule win more viewers?
I highly double. Maybe it will get some occasional watcher for one GP but if it's p!sses off the core audience, you may end up loosing on the grand scheme. And if casual viewer may know that all is decided in the final race he will most likely skip others. What's next? If some more GPs are awarded additional points we will end up with a system like non-championship races from 70s-80s.
Right now it doesn't seem like a well thought out idea.

[SectorOne]

no, No, NO, NO. Respectfully, you are wrong.

The "sport" exists because of the advertisers and the media they use to push their brands through exposure before, during, and after the races.

Actually, i´m right.
But you haven´t followed the rabbit hole down all the way here. Advertisers need what? VIEWERS.
If there´s no viewers, there´s no sponsors and if there´s no sponsors there´s no Formula 1. It´s as simple as that.

Formula 1 would die as we know it if the fans stopped watching today. There´s not a single company in the world that would push in millions to a team and get absolutely nothing back.

The whole reason cars look the way they do today and why there´s so much technology is ultimately down to the person tuning in and watching the race and following F1 in general. That´s just the way it is.

[Gridlock]

There´s not a single company in the world that would push in millions to a team and get absolutely nothing back.

http://www.bmhc.bh

[Richard]

The "sport" exists because of the advertisers and the media they use to push their brands through exposure before, during, and after the races. They do NOT care about fans, when "fans" means enthusiasts like us. What they care about are "eyeballs," total number of TV viewers, internet impressions, etc. Some demographic groups are more important than others, but racing geeks like us is NOT one of those groups

Actually, i´m right.
But you haven´t followed the rabbit hole down all the way here. Advertisers need what? VIEWERS.
If there´s no viewers, there´s no sponsors and if there´s no sponsors there´s no Formula 1. It´s as simple as that.

Actually you are saying the same thing.

F1 doesn't worry about fans like us, they worry about the millions who will turn on the TV to see razzmatazz of the final showdown. I wouldn't be surprised if Bernie wants to have a play-off over the last 3 races, with the final race worth double points to make sure it isn't a dead rubber.