11/10/2018
NEWS STORY
Plans to change the points system, awarding points to all twenty drivers, have been scrapped.
The bid to award points to all twenty drivers was revealed by Vijay Mallya in July following a meeting of the Strategy Group.
"They're considering whether the points system should go all the way down to 20th, 20th being every car scores a point if they finish the race," he said. "The bottom starts with one point and then goes up. Or whether 10th should be extended down to 15th. All these discussions took place."
As ever, not everyone agreed with the proposal.
"The point that was made is that there's a certain panache at being referred to as finishing in the top 10," he admitted. "That will get diluted if you start giving points down the line.
"When we do well all my friends send me messages saying, 'Congratulations, another top 10 finish'," he said, "Top 10 has a certain sense of achievement to it.
"The counter point that was made was that if every driver gets a point, all the way down to the bottom, then every car is going to be racing for a point. So at the end of the day nobody is going to stop pushing the limits just because they're outside the top 10 and there is no reward at the end.
"There was a suggestion to make it up to 15. There is obviously going to be more debate. This was based on research that was done."
Charlie Whiting however, has confirmed that there will be no change to the current point system introduced in 2010.
"It is something that if everybody had agreed to, we would look at introducing it in 2019," he said, confirming that the idea had now been dropped.
However, the curfew rules have been amended for next season, extending the current curfew on Friday and Saturday nights from eight hours to nine.
The curfew, introduced in 2011, is intended to reduce the number of hours personnel work over a Grand Prix weekend, though teams are allowed two exceptions over the course of the season.