Mar.25 (GMM) The teams will be consulted before changes to the points system are made for the 2010 season, a spokesperson for the governing FIA has confirmed
The Paris body’s apparently unilateral and eleventh-hour decision to install the ‘winner takes all’ system for this year was rejected by the teams’ alliance FOTA
The development moved Bernie Ecclestone to observe that the process has simply been delayed for a year, moving Mercedes’ Norbert Haug to insist that there is “enough time” for “constructive conversations” to take place before then
FOTA’s own proposal, apparently backed by market research, was to tweak the current system so that race winners score an extra point over his runner-up
If the rejected ‘winner takes all’ system was retrospectively applied to the 2008 results, Felipe Massa would now be world champion, having won more races than Lewis Hamilton
But the Ferrari driver said in Melbourne: “I’m really not interested, I’m interested in what’s right for our sport
“A driver might win more races, but might be very inconsistent in his performance, not gaining many points. In this case I think he wouldn’t deserve the title,” Massa added
The FIA on Wednesday officially confirmed that the scoring system for 2009 will be the same as it was last year
