Comments on: Why the "medals" system might not be so bad

By: A look at Fota’s proposals « vee8 - a Formula 1 blog

A look at Fota’s proposals « vee8 - a Formula 1 blog — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:56:23 +0000

[...] between 1st and 2nd place is far too low. Three points is hardly any better. In my view, 1st place should be worth around double what 2nd place is [...]

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:34:46 +0000

I understand why Bernie is trying to find a solution but he is trying to fix a aerodynamic issue by changing how the points are handled. Fix the real problem first, the turbulence created by the leading car. Get rid of that and you’ll have more draft passing and closer racing. THEN, and only then should you consider messing with how the points are handed out.

By: Hitcher

Hitcher — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:07:28 +0000

Bernie apparently said to The Times that he has the backing of all teams and the FIA on his proposal.
I have been trying to find any comments from teams or drivers on the “medal” system without any success. Has anyone else seen a reaction or comment from teams or drivers?

By: guille2306

guille2306 — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:01:32 +0000

Steven:
The ‘medals system’ gives points to every driver, it’s just that only the first three have proper ‘medals names’. Just take the table on comment 10 and make it 20 columns wide. Of course, most of the time it will suffice with 3 or 4 columns to do the job as doctorvee did.

1982 (as 2002) where one on a kind of championships. With any point system you will find a situation at which there will be a ‘non-wanted’ result. And as every single person has his own idea of what should not happen (or what is ‘fair’), any point system will end up being ‘unfair’ for somebody. Let me remember you that Schumacher actually ended the season pretty early in 2002, with or without medal system. That’s the reason why we have today the 10,8,6 system (which didn’t prevented him of taking the 2003 and 2004 titles anyway…)

At the end, I agree with the concept that says that drivers will adapt to the system in use. Give them a 10,9,8 system and they will cruise to the best non-risking position, give them a 10,0 system and they will kill each other for the first place (Ok, that’s extreme, but you get the idea).
And in any system the best driver with the best car will disappear in the distance…

I actually don’t care the system in use, but I’ll rather prefer one rewarding a more ‘aggressive’ approach to the races than one that rewards mostly the consistency. One that could be interesting to think about is this (used in Argentina in a stock-car series): you use a point system that rewards ‘fairly’ the consistence (the present F1 would be fine), but you can’t be champion if you don’t win a race in the year. But this is only useful when you have a series in which ANYBODY can have a shot to the win (which is not the case of F1 today).

By: Steven Roy

Steven Roy — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:02:51 +0000

I am totally against the medals system whether or not medals are awarded. Bernie may be championing it this time but this is a re-hash of a system Max suggested 15 years ago that a win would be worth ten times a second place and a second worth 10 thirds etc. How he got from that position to the point where he changed the 10, 6 etc system to the 10, 8, 6 etc system I don’t know.

The medals system is too easy to fiddle. This season officially Massa won 6 to Hamilton’s 5. In reality Massa should have had a drive through at Valencia and then there was Spa where he would have been given gold despite never leafing the race. The real score should have been 7:4 to Hamilton. Fortunately the points system saved us from the FIA donating yet another championship to Ferrari.

Only giving points for the first three positions which is effectively what this system is, is insane particulary as we are getting closer to the stage where each of the top teams has influence over four cars. Imagine for example McLaren build an awesome car and Force India have access to the key parts. Ron Dennis can now appoint the champion and any other team has to hope two ‘McLarens’ drop out before they have a chance of a single point. Medals make no sense whatever.

Imagine 1982 when 11 drivers won races and the most anyone won was 2. I know that drivers may change the driving to reflect the points system but not to the extent that 11 winners drop significantly. How are you going to sort out 11 drivers using a medals system? In such a season you could have someone win 2 races and never be onthe podium again especially in a situation like that season where Villeneuve died and Pironi was seriously injured. You could have someone score 2 wins and nothing else and someone else score one win 5 seconds and 4 thirds. Should the guy who won two and maybe died in the third race be champion or at least above the other?

What happens if you have a season like 2002 where Schumacher just disappeared into the distance at every race. With medals the season would be finished after 8 or 9 races.

You have to consider the negative implications of the medals system as well as the potential positives.

By: A Bernie post, on Canada and on those medals one more time | F1 Wolf

A Bernie post, on Canada and on those medals one more time | F1 Wolf — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:29:06 +0000

[...] that may replace the traditional points. A lot has been said already here and elsewhere (check this post be Vee8). But I wonder if anyone thougt about what effect would this have on the good old problem of team [...]

By: doctorvee

doctorvee — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:14:15 +0000

Thanks for the suggestion Ponzonha! I’ll look into it, and will add it to my to-do list.

By: Ponzonha

Ponzonha — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 10:21:26 +0000

By the way vee, I would really love to see the option of subscribe to comments by mail. There are plenty of plugins to do that, and it would enhance your loyal commenters’ experience.

By: Ponzonha

Ponzonha — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 10:20:17 +0000

At first I was afraid, I was petrified. Thinking I couldn’t live without points by my side.

Your arguments and the provided examples are so convincing that I eager to see the new season with this medals stuff.
Great job!

By: F1Wolf

F1Wolf — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 03:05:43 +0000

@ Keith – you perhaps missed my point or I did not make it clear enough when I listed that table how would the rankings look this year if the medals were used.

what I wanted to say is that in general the order would not be too different, so the final results would still be quite fair. and then comes the positive part (where I agree with you as well) – “We all know drivers adjust their tactics in accordance with the scoring system to maximise their chances of winning the title.” – Hamilton would definitelly approach the final few races more agressive than he did this year, knowing that he simply must win more races than his closest rival …and that is what we want.

I sure do not like many things that Ecclestone is doing to F1 these days, but I am really starting to like this medal idea

@ Clive – miracles in lesser cars – well we always want to see that but the ultimately the chapmionship is about winning, isn’t it ?