Formula One 2009

[Katsuya]

Honda began working on the car during the 08 season, because they knew it was a write-off, essentially. When Honda pulled out, the staff kept on working on the car, so it never stopped being developed - it just never had any testing before last week, and therefore nobody had any idea just how much progress had been made.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Yeah. The car he inherited was very tasty indeed.

[Summers]

He didn't inherit it, he was involved in the designing of the car from the early stages, I believe.

[TheArsenal]

I'm looking forward to seeing if Jenson can really do some good things this year. The last few years he's been let down by his car race after race and I felt his career was as good as over before Brawn joined the then Honda team. Hopefully this season he can string together some impressive performances and either challenge for the championship, or secure a move to a team that will allow him to do so.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

He didn't inherit it, he was involved in the designing of the car from the early stages, I believe.

Then more kudos to him. (Y)

Basically this can only be a good thing for F1.

[Summers]

Button being only a decent driver also let him down. A better overall driver than Shamilton, though. But still nothing great.

[Adam]

The excitement is building for this season and it looks really open atm, I hope Brawn can do well as Button & Barrichello are two of my favourites in F1, always have been, and I've always felt that if Button had left BAR/Honda earlier in his career he could've been a world champion by now, the same goes for Rubens if he'd not been stuck in Schumey's shadow for 5-6 years. If they can get some wins this year it'd be great, at this point I can't even pick a favourite team or driver, I just want McLaren to fail miserably, and early signs are encouraging.

Some interesting info Kats, good to get some info on how testing has gone. Isn't there one more session in Jerez that only a couple of teams are taking part in?

[TheArsenal]

The excitement is building for this season and it looks really open atm, I hope Brawn can do well as Button & Barrichello are two of my favourites in F1, always have been, and I've always felt that if Button had left BAR/Honda earlier in his career he could've been a world champion by now, the same goes for Rubens if he'd not been stuck in Schumey's shadow for 5-6 years. If they can get some wins this year it'd be great, at this point I can't even pick a favourite team or driver, I just want McLaren to fail miserably, and early signs are encouraging.

Some interesting info Kats, good to get some info on how testing has gone. Isn't there one more session in Jerez that only a couple of teams are taking part in?

Yes, because McLaren want to get there and sort their garbage can of a car out.

And I totally agree about Button, had he actually made that move to Williams a few years back then the second half of his career would have been totally different, and far more successful.

[Scott McFly]

So the breaking news on Sky is that the F1 World Championship will be decided on race wins rather than points.

Eh? So the points system is gone then?

[Adam]

I don't think so, no. I'm actually confused, here's the article from BBC Sport. I do like the idea that the guy who wins the most races takes the championship, that is fair, but I've preferred to see an increase in the number of points won if you win the race, a 4 point margin between 1st and 2nd was always better than 2.

F1 wins will decide world title

Formula 1 has introduced a new points system that will result in the driver with most wins crowned world champion.

The current points system will still operate to decide a tie if two drivers have the same wins and to define all other championship positions.

Had the new rules been in place in 2008, Lewis Hamilton would have lost the title to runner-up Felipe Massa.

From 2010, there will be an optional budget cap of £30m that will reduce some teams' spending by 90%.

The new rules were approved by the World Motor Sport Council of governing body the FIA at a meeting in Paris on Tuesday.

It rejected a proposal by the F1 Teams' Association to tweak the points system to 12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1 from first to eighth places.

Instead, the current 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 system will stay in place.

The budget cap is an attempt to make F1 more accessible to new teams.

Teams choosing to operate within the budget cap will be allowed more technical freedom.

Those teams will be allowed: a more aerodynamically efficient (but standard) underbody; movable wings; an engine which is not subject to a rev limit or a development freeze.

Teams can choose to spend what they like, but operate within more restrictive technical rules - and therefore have a theoretically slower car.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone announced his intention to shake-up the points system at the end of last season.

Ecclestone's idea was to award the top three drivers with gold, silver and bronze medals with the driver capturing the most golds crowned champion.

While the medals have been abandoned the new system delivers on Ecclestone's wish of rewarding the driver with the most victories.

The F1 chief believes the new system will encourage overtaking.

"If you're in the lead and I'm second, I'm not going to take the risk of falling off the circuit or doing something stupid to get two points," Ecclestone said in November.

"If I need a gold medal to win the championship, I will overtake. It's just not on that someone can win the championship without winning a race."

However, the new system could see the season settled much earlier.

The points distribution was introduced in 2003, partly to try to ensure the world championship stayed open for longer at a time when Michael Schumacher and Ferrari were dominating the sport.

If the new system had been installed in 2008, Massa would have been crowned world champion as he won six races compared to Hamilton's five.

The FIA also announced plans to publish the weights of the cars after qualifying for each Grand Prix.

That could give a clue to which teams are using the optional kinetic energy recovery system (Kers).

Kers, which allows drivers a boost of an extra 80bhp for 6.7 seconds each lap, weighs around 35kg and could tip some cars - complete with their drivers - over the minimum weight of 605kg.

To improve clarity, wet tyres have also been renamed "intermediates" and extreme weather tyres are now called "wet".

With in-season testing now banned, the FIA will only allow teams to carry out eight one-day aerodynamic tests on a straight piece of track.

Teams will also be allowed to carry out three one-day young driver training tests between the season-ending Grand Prix and the end of the calendar year.

CHAMPIONS THAT WOULD HAVE CHANGED

1958: Actual champion: Mike Hawthorne

Most wins champion: Stirling Moss

1964: Actual champion: John Surtees

Most wins champion: Jim Clark

1967: Actual champion: Denny Hulme

Most wins champion: Jim Clark

1977: Actual champion: Niki Lauda

Most wins champion: Mario Andretti

1979: Actual champion: Jody Scheckter

Most wins champion: Alan Jones

1981: Actual champion: Nelson Piquet

Most wins champion: Alain Prost

1982: Actual champion: Keke Rosberg

Most wins champion: Didier Pironi

1983: Actual champion: Nelson Piquet

Most wins champion: Alain Prost

1984: Actual champion: Niki Lauda

Most wins champion: Alain Prost

1986: Actual champion: Alain Prost

Most wins champion: Nigel Mansell

1987: Actual champion: Nelson Piquet

Most wins champion: Nigel Mansell

1989: Actual champion: Ayrton Senna

Most wins champion: Alain Prost

2008: Actual champion: Lewis Hamilton

Most wins champion: Felipe Massa

I suppose the points system will still operate but in terms of the race for the world title, only the wins will count.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Alain Prost would have been pretty much the greatest driver if this had been the case.

[TheArsenal]

The only way I can understand it is:

Basically, the points system will operate in exactly the same way as last year. The only difference is that the one driver who has the most race wins will be moved to the top of the list, regardless of points. In the event of two racers having the same number of race wins, their placings are decided by the points system.

So at the end of last season, the table looked like:

1 Lewis Hamilton 98

2 Felipe Massa 97

3 Kimi Raikkonen 75

4 Robert Kubica 75

5 Fernando Alonso 61

But under the new rules, as Massa had the most wins of any driver last season, he is moved to the top and Hamilton moves to second. Had Hamilton won one more race to tie their 1st's, Hamilton would have won by having 1 point more.

The "Race win" movement rule only affects the driver with the most wins. Everyone else is sorted by the points system.

I hope that made it dlearer.

[EddieG]

So basically.. the guy with most race wins.. wins the championship ? :S

[Adam]

Yes, unless two or more drivers finish level on wins and then it goes on points. And under this system, only ONE world championship would have changed hands in the last 18 years. Simply put, it's likely this system won't make much difference, and the reaction of everyone on BBC's 606 is a bit ludicrous.

[Katsuya]

The only problem I can see with this is Jenson/Rubens winning the first like, five races in a row, then Brawn falls off the pace - but BMW/Ferrari/Toyota, for example, could trade the rest of the wins and Jenson wins overall with like, 20 less points than someone who's consistently finished in the podiums. I think FOTA's 12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1 would have worked a lot better, personally.

Jerez...well, Alonso finally managed to beat the Brawn's yesterday, but only by like...a tenth of a second. Then Jenson beat that time today by like, half a second (and Rosberg beat it too). The McLaren's are now around a second behind Brawn, and 0.5-0.6 tenths behind Renault. It's not looking good for them, essentially.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

So only first place is decided by races won.

So second place in the championship will go to the NEXT guy with the most number of points, regardless of how many wins.

[GA!]

Bernie changed the rules because a black man won the F1 title.

Just saying.

[Katsuya]

...ooh, that's interesting. BMW have said they have a working KERS but haven't said if they'll use it in Melbourne. Renault just announced that they're using it in Melbourne...which very well might make everybody else come out and say they're using it. Brawn might not be in such a good spot after all (albeit there's only three straights where you can probably use it around Albert Park).

[Adam]

Teams challenge F1 scoring system

Formula 1's teams claim the new scoring system introduced earlier this week is not valid and cannot be used in 2009.

They argue that the changes, which stipulate that the driver with most wins will become world champion, did not meet the necessary regulations.

F1's governing body, the FIA, announced it was amending the scoring system in order to make racing more exciting.

But the Formula One Teams Association (Fota) said it "unanimously agreed to question the validity" of the decision.

"It is too late for FIA to impose a change for the 2009 season that has not obtained the unanimous agreement of all the competitors properly entered into the 2009 Formula 1 Championship," read a Fota statement, issued on Friday.

More to follow.

This is Breaking News on BBC Sport. The season has already caused a huge deal of controversy thanks to the FIA's meddling, will it ever end? My personal preferred scenario would see FOTA succeed in overturning the 'driver with most wins...wins' system and replacing it next year with the new FOTA proposed system (12, 9, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1), leaving it as it was for this season.

[Katsuya]

F1 in disarray over scoring plan

The new season starts with the Australian Grand Prix on 29 March

Formula 1 looks set to scrap plans to introduce a new scoring system in 2009.

More to follow.