FIA confirms new points system in 2010

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Trulli would move up to seventh in 2009 using the new 2010 F1 points

The new points system which was surprisingly proposed by the F1 Commssion yesterday will be used in F1 in 2010. A statement from the FIA read:

Due to the expanded grid of 13 teams, and further to the recommendation of the F1 Commission, a new points system will be in place for the 2010 season.

As discussed yesterday, the new system extends the points down to tenth place without changing the relative value of finishing first, second or third.

Other questionable changes include how the points scale increases unevenly, with a two-point jump from eighth to seventh, but only a one-point gap between seventh and sixth.

It has all the hallmarks of an ill-conceived and hastily-taken decision. If only the FIA had taken time to read the lukewarm response the proposal received here yesterday, with less than one-third of fans calling it an improvement:

Read more: Race winners could get 25 points in 2010

Image (C) Toyota F1 World

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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84 comments on “FIA confirms new points system in 2010”

  1. I can understand the need to extend the points down to 10th with the expansion of the grid, but 20 compared to 25 is the same percentage as 8 was to 10, so it hasn’t addressed the issue of giving more reward to winning at all. I’m all for changing the points system but only if it addresses all the issues, which this doesn’t seem to do.

    1. Dan it is such a hasty decision! we are not used to this in F1 at all. It is absolutely bizarre how a decision like this that directly affects the whole sport can be made in such a rushed and amateur fashion

  2. HounslowBusGarage
    11th December 2009, 15:37

    Do you think FOTA were consulted?

    1. I’m sorry to tell you, but the decision was made by the F1 Comission in which FOTA is heavily involved.
      This decision was basically made by the teams.

      1. I still can’t believe such a massive shake-up of the points system has actually happened… but if the teams are all for it, I trust their opinions over my own.

        1. This shake-up is not massive at all, as Keith’s article yesterday showed. It hardly changes anything at all.

  3. if they wanted to expand the points down to 10th, they could have done it very easily. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 and there you go, top ten drivers.

    1. I hate the new system but im afraid your idea is worse the winner only getting 3 more points than 4th would be massively devaluing a win

      1. I know, but I don’t like the idea of someone running away with the points. I want every race and every point to mean something. The last race of the year should be the most heart pounding one of the year instead of just a parade.

        1. Have you been under a rock for the last 5 GP finales?

  4. Ridiculous!

    If they wanted to keep the ratios, but extend the amount of drivers that got points, they should have used 15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1

    And this is even without mentioning the historical disruption this will result in…

    1. Your suggestion looks pretty good.

      It does look like another badly thought through change. Another fiddle with the sport we love that will no doubt mess up the history books, not work in the races and get changed 2 years down the road.

      Football fans are so lucky…their rules get left alone and they can get on with just enjoying the sport!

    2. I agree that was the suggestion I did

    3. I very nearly agree – I’d do this but have 16 for a win.

      16-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

      Second gets 75% of the winner’s points, so you have increased the value of the win.

      1. The new points are stupid!
        it shoule be either…
        1) 15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1
        2) 12-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

        I’m very dissapointed with the news and hope it changes back at some point before march!

        1. The ’15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1′ system Ed suggested sounds a lot more desireable to me than the actually adopted system.

          1. I think this is the method they use in the BTCC and maybe the WTCC,
            Anyway 2009 BTCC chamionship went down to the last race with a choice of three drivers that could of won it,
            So i’d of preferred this system but oh well

  5. Wow this was quick… usually they take weeks and months to make these decisions!

    1. That is the FIA specialty! They make wrong decisions quickly.

      1. Yeah, this is undoubtedly the worst decision they’ve made in years.

      2. In F1 you have to be quick :)

        It’s not final, an appeal is possible before the new season starts.

      3. A good revision to this:

        25-15-10-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

        The top three finisher will truly have a ladder points to it.

        1. that is a stupid points system Anonymous! the reward for first is too high!

          if a driver hads the win to his team mate then an extra ten points (the same amount as thrid) is way over the top.

          Im very very DISAPOINTED with this new points system. F1 points are less valuable now individulally,

          if you finished 10 for all races you wouldnt even get the same amount of points as a guy who won one race and then crashed into the wall for the other 17.

          Hardly seems fair

          1. If you finished 10th last year you would be behind too.

  6. The WMSC statement didn’t actually confirm the points allocated for each position, merely confirmed that the top ten will be allocated points next year. Am guessing that the rogue 7th place will be corrected.

  7. 10-6-4-3-2-1

    Nuff said!

    1. Why not suggest 8-6-4-3-2 and 1 for fastest lap, like in the good old times of 1950??? Or adopt the points system of the 1930s????

    2. I hated that system, when it was in place.

    3. Yep…… keep it simple.

      This is all manipulation by Ecclestone, aided and abetted by the team principals to try to give the impression to people who don’t understand the subtleties of F1 that there are no losers. Thereby conning sponsors into spending more money ‘because our guy is in with a chance’.

      When in reality he probably hasn’t a hope in hell of a podium or anything of value.

  8. That 7th place thing is just crazy…. It just does not folow any pattern….

    1. Indeed. Very, very silly.

  9. There’s still plenty of time to change it. Remember earlier this year:
    17 March: Medals introduced, driver with most wins is World Champion.
    25 March: Old system brought back.
    29 March: Australian Grand Prix.

    1. Dont forget that the medals system was universally hated, while this new points system has more support behind it.

  10. Overall this makes sense as there will be more cars on the grid, but they do need to sort out that 7th place oddity. Like Bullfrog says above, there’s still plenty of time.

  11. oh goodness, let’s not even mention history, and the disruption to driver career points tally sheets. There have been many changes in the last 20 years that make career points a joke in driver comparisons. This one really doesn’t make the joke any bigger.

    I think with a larger grid, an alteration to the points system may have been in order. However, this appears to be a hasty and ill-thought change. It leaves the percentages fairly intact while simply increasing the numbers to facilitate points further down the grid, without placing an additional emphasis on finishing first. So basically it is no change at all, unless you are a team that regularly finished close to but out of the points last season, as this coming season you prolly will get some points.

    As we do not and will not ever know the intent of FiA in this change, it is either a total success, or a colossal mistake. But only FiA can judge the result.

    In another section of comments on articles, I answered a few postings with some thoughts of my own, and while these things are now a few hours old, I’ll post them again here, as I believe they are still relevant.

    —————————————————-

    ” My first year watching Jochen Rindt won with 45 points. As much as I love this sport I hate to see the sideshow it is becoming.”-Rampante

    All too true, my friend. It’s less and less about the racing, isn’t it?

    “Why does F1 have to constantly fiddle and change rules and regulations between seasons?”-CRM

    Same answer as to the question why do dogs lick their b0ll0cks? Answer: Because they can.

    “Well, there is at least some good news about the new system. If you don’t like it, you won’t have to wait long till the FIA changes it again.”-theRoswellite

    Yes, I’d give this one, should it get voted in, a very short life.

    “The proposed points system is like painting an elephant black and yellow to make it look like a bee.”-Ariel

    This is by far the best line I’ve seen in a comment here. And VERY true. Keith, can we have an award for ‘Comment of the Month’ ? I’ll nominate Ariel right now.

    “All this talk about drivers needing more incentive to win is absolute rubbish.
    Keep in mind that the issue keeps being raised by Ecclestone who failed as an F1 driver.”-Accidental Mick

    Now, now, Mick, let’s be accurate about this. In truth, Bernie failed more as an F1 Qualifier than race driver. (Tongue planted firmly in cheek. )

    And last of all, a word to FiA, as though they’d read this or even consider my remarks, but heck it makes me feel better. I see in the FiA statement (Keith’s link in the article) that a new sub-committee, the Sporting Working Group, has been created within the newly re-formed F1 Commission. The SWG mandate is to “improve the show”. I can’t WAIT to see what this brings. I can only imagine they are sending out even now for some black and yellow paint, specially if the vote is “Yea” on the new points schedule.

    FiA, please remember, it is supposed to be about the racing. Not the “Show” or the “Spectacle” ….. heck, we could have teams of miniature ponies with their tails & manes dyed in team colors and great tall plumes as head-dresses tow the cars to the grid, and that would certainly be show and spectacle. But remember, at long last, it is supposed to be about the SPORT, about the RACING. I have been following Formula 1 since there WAS such a thing, went to my first F1 race at Silversone in ‘56, and some of the things I’ve seen in F1 recently have truly brought tears to my eyes. FiA, or F1 Commission, whichever is to actually run the sport now, please remember it was, is, and always should be about the racing. Not the multi-million dollar hospitality suites(ya listening, Bernie?), or the exotic locales, or even about the historic tracks cause even the best history on a dull track brings a bad race. Please keep in mind that you should take premier care of the racing, and everything else will take care of itself.

    Rant over, thanks for reading. And those of you napping can wake up now.

    1. dsob, your comment is music to my ears. You just summed everything perfectly. But if you want to emphasise a word, useitalics! Sorry, I’m a grammar Nazi :)

    2. Heh. Glad you liked my analogy. I totally agree with you, F1 should be about racing, first and foremost; all the other stuff should just be a plus, never a replacement.

      1. No no no ….. I like elephants painted to look like bees….LOL !!!

        Bloody brilliant Ariel !

    3. This is by far the best line I’ve seen in a comment here. And VERY true. Keith, can we have an award for ‘Comment of the Month’ ? I’ll nominate Ariel right now.

      Agree on the “comment of the month award”, but for this case, my vote goes for your comment, dsob.

  12. I didn’t like the new system,they should at least look at some blogs to see what the fans then approve it.

  13. In other changes agreed for 2010, experienced former F1 drivers will assist a panel of permanent race stewards at all Grands Prix.
    Any guess who are those driver’s?

  14. I think it was a good idea to extend the range down to 10th place, but the sequencing, especially the large gap between the first three positions and the rest, seems somewhat overdone to me. It’ll be interesting to see how this influences the competition next year.

  15. I agree with the 7th place points. It will make 8th want 7th, and 6th want 5th, rather than settling for what they are on (as a few people have mentioned will happen).

  16. though I disagree with the percentages of 1st:2nd:3rd.

  17. The points thing is only a ruse….did anyone else hear about the “FIA World Championship Commissioners” and the “FIA F1 Ambassabors”? Sounds like Max has a new job already waiting for him…

    And all this is after DiMonte announces he’s stepping down from FOTA…

  18. I can live with it but they’ve got to change 7th place to four points, as Keith says. The gaps have always increased as you go up the order, not see-sawed.

  19. While I am not in favour I thought they would have at least corrected the problem with seventh and eighth places.

    It all seems a bit rushed to me, the first suggestion they would make a change like this was yesterday and now it is already confirmed, last year when Ecclestone and the FIA tried to introduce medals it seemed to be rumoured for quite a while before they said a medals system would be used, although they obviously had to back down a week before the season started, this time everyone seems have agreed on it without any dissenting voices.

  20. This is broadly a non-issue. It’ll mess up some points-based records, but those aren’t important anyway because points are only a means to various ends (championship positions) and not the end in itself. So it’s scaled a little bit and the tail is extended to accommodate the larger number of entries. It’s good to see very little time was wasted by the FIA on this non-issue. As long as this points system remains fixed, well-understood, and applied fairly from the beginning through the season end, it’s all good.

    The more important decision is with regards to the race stewards – the introduction of ex-racing drivers and permanent stewards is a laudable step by the FIA and Todt.

  21. Hakka…”It’ll mess up some points-based records, but those aren’t important anyway because points are only a means to various ends (championship positions) and not the end in itself.”

    Exactly…the FIA should extend everyone the courtesy of going back and recalculating every drivers points since day one, 1950, using the new system (this wouldn’t actually take all that long), then if someone wants to make comparisons between drivers of different eras they could look at an updated table…this is not to suggest that such an activity is time well spent.

    And Hakka scores again with the real change…ex-drivers as permanent stewards. One would hope the really excellent choices would tend to remain and the others…not so much!

  22. Considering that there’s no refuelling next year, which means that the fastest person in the front will most likely race ahead and win and if that happens through the whole year and seeing how many points they’re going to get, next year’s season isn’t going to be as competitive as I hoped. One or two people will dominate it.

  23. The change should make no difference to past races. You cannot compare different seasons like for like, because the cars/tyres/engines/rules/tracks were different. So what if they score more points? It’s impossible to to compare them anyway.

    It’s just the changeable nature of F1, for better or worse.

  24. Hey, I’ve got an idea. Instead, lets impliment a medal system! Oh, already suggested? Never mind. Oh, wait…..Lets try to leave politics and drama out of the sport for this year and see what it’s like just to watch racing every other weekend! Oh, right, that would be too hard. I know, lets support the new Sports Car World Championship!

  25. I wonder what the 2009 championship would look like with these points. I think Vettel would have a better chance, especially when button had some DNF’s and low ranking results near the end of the season.

    Anyone want to give it a go?

    1. HounslowBusGarage
      11th December 2009, 20:33

      Ccolanto, Keith did the analysis on this thread yesterday https://www.racefans.net/2009/12/10/new-f1-points-system-proposed-for-2010/
      And no, it doesn’t make much difference.

  26. I think the FIA changed the scores in order to present the driver had a chance to catch up with the scores of drivers and teams who already hold leading positions in Formula One records
    driver
    1 Michael Schumacher 1369
    2 Alain Prost 798,5
    3 Ayrton Senna 614
    4 Rubens Barrichello 519
    5 David Coulthard 517
    teams
    1 Ferrari 3718,5
    2 McLaren 3265,5
    3 Williams 2519,5
    4 Lotus 1368
    5 Renault 950

    So probably for the scoring was changed so the FIA can boast records for slain in F1

  27. They should have gone the other way 3_2_1. The % would be fair, everyone 4th to last still in the hunt

  28. I think this is wrong, I thought they were trying to improve racing. This points system will make drivers more lazy. In the 90s, 26 cars raced together and only the top 6 got points.

    1. HounslowBusGarage
      11th December 2009, 22:22

      Yes, but weren’t the teams racing for ‘support’ money beyond the points system? So if Team A got better positions overall that Team B, they earned more money from the organisers. No?

  29. Prisoner Monkeys
    11th December 2009, 22:41

    Just read a pretty interesting article over at Autosport about what, exactly, the points change means for Formula One. Under the new system, every championship since 1999 would have been won by the people who won them. In fact, 2007 and 2008 would have been won by the same one-point margins that they were under the old system, and 2003 would have been decided by just four points. 1999 would have seen Eddie Irvine crowned World Champion, but he also would have been awarded that title under the 2003 system, when the value of second place was increased. So aside from the number of points awarded, it’s not a super-dramatic change.

  30. At least it’s better than the medal proposal…

  31. One effect may be to lessen the pressure on pay-driver hacks and allow teams to employ them more freely: the lower teams can hope to compete for a higher constructors ranking even with a guy who finishes consistently several places behind his teammate. This will allow the new teams to hire drivers with rich dads to help fund the teams.

  32. 7th place should be given 4 points instead of 5. Otherwise, the system is good. I approve.

    1. my sentiments exactly

  33. The old saw about pleasing all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time comes to mind here.
    What does it matter if there is a slight ineqity between 6th and 7th vs 7th and 8th in the grand scheme. The back of the pack will be an ever changing field so it will balance out.
    Personally I would add 5 points for pole, 5 points for most laps lead and 5 points for fastest lap a la NASCAR so to speak. It will shake up the point system so that all these ridiculous comparisons of the old vs the new are meaningless.
    It is not life and death here folks. It’s motor racing.

  34. Agree with most of the comments here with the simple addition of points for overtaking, pole position, fastest lap.

  35. This system doesn’t need too much backing because it doesn’t really change anything. The fight for the championship stays the same, unless of course it comes down to 9th and 10th place finishes making a difference and even that is close. Did some math for 2009 and these are the results of 09 v 1010 points.

    But: 95 v. 231

    Vet: 84 v. 203

    Bar: 77 v. 187

    So Vettel scored 88% of Button’s points using both systems and Rubens scored 81% of Button’s points. The new point system should have no notable impact on the championship fight, but it will have some more competition in the lower ranks.

    I think it is an improvement over the old system because the lower drivers can have more competition. It may not solve all problems but I don’t think it causes any harm

  36. Just an idea. I have always thought F1 should award some point value for: 1) pole position, and 2) fastest race lap.

  37. full ist, i hope it won’t be distorted…

    1 BUT 95 1 BUT 230,5
    2 VET 84 2 VET 203
    3 BAR 77 3 BAR 183
    4 WEB 69,5 4 WEB 175
    5 HAM 49 5 HAM 120,5
    6 RAI 48 6 RAI 119
    7 ROS 34,5 7 TRU 78
    8 TRU 32,5 8 ROS 75,5
    9 ALO 26 9 GLO 63,5
    10 GLO 24 10 ALO 62
    11 MAS 22 11 MAS 48
    12 KOV 22 12 KOV 46
    13 HEI 19 13 HEI 44
    14 KUB 17 14 KUB 44
    15 FIS 8 15 FIS 26
    16 BUE 6 16 BUE 16
    17 SUT 5 17 SUT 13
    18 KOB 3 18 KOB 8
    19 BOU 2 19 BOU 6,5
    20 NAK 5
    21 PIQ 1

  38. it did, sorry…

    01 BUT 95 – 01 BUT 230,5
    02 VET 84 – 02 VET 203
    03 BAR 77 – 03 BAR 183
    04 WEB 69,5 – 04 WEB 175
    05 HAM 49 – 05 HAM 120,5
    06 RAI 48 – 06 RAI 119
    07 ROS 34,5 – 07 TRU 78
    08 TRU 32,5 – 08 ROS 75,5
    09 ALO 26 – 09 GLO 63,5
    10 GLO 24 – 10 ALO 62
    11 MAS 22 – 11 MAS 48
    12 KOV 22 – 12 KOV 46
    13 HEI 19 – 13 HEI 44
    14 KUB 17 – 14 KUB 44
    15 FIS 8 – 15 FIS 26
    16 BUE 6 – 16 BUE 16
    17 SUT 5 – 17 SUT 13
    18 KOB 3 – 18 KOB 8
    19 BOU 2 – 19 BOU 6,5
    – 20 NAK 5
    – 21 PIQ 1

    1. i dont see why it matters that a couple of midfield drivers were switched around? surely only the top 3 really matter, and realisticly the top 1.

      and surely the incentive for the midfield teams is to be more consistently doing well.

  39. That 7th place is just weird. It’s like “oh we need 3 more cars that could get points, let’s just paste a few underneath”. Very odd indeed! I’d like to have a point for the fastest lap too. I don’t care for points for pole though, that’s qualification and not racing. Either way, I can see where the’re coming from with this system but I don’t really care about it since it doesn’t change enough. There was nothing wrong with the old system. I like the 15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 idea as well. Not because of the “incentive to win”(the’re all competative enough, that’s the reason why they made it to the top of racing in the first place) but because it sorts out all problems the new proposed system is bringing up. That 7th place oddity needs to go!

  40. A completely unnecessary, ill-thought, ruination of F1. Let’s just give everyone a trophy for turning up and be done with it, the way things are going.

  41. Jensen Button:
    “It’s a great idea. It’s nice that you get five points over second for winning. That’s important because we all love winning races. I won six races this year and I got just two more point”

    Is he really so thick that he can’t see that relatively you get no more points? Dear God, I can’t believe they’ve ruined the historical records at a stroke.

    1. i’m fairly sure that at periods in f1 history the winner didn’t get 10 points. I’m fairly sure that at some point in the 70’s or 80’s the winner got 8 points….

  42. It’s a poor decision. Another knee-jerk reaction by the FIA and the F1 supremos.

    The reward for winning is far too high (as strange as that sounds!) and flies in the face of the FIA’s earlier view that a driver who is consistently good should win the WDC.

    I’m curious, would Button have won the WDC earlier in the year based on the new points system?

  43. I don’t really see the problem with the new points system as most of the ratios are still the same.
    It doesn’t really what points system they use, the best most consistent driver will still win the championship.
    Perhaps they could look at the Indycar points system which seems to work very well where they give points all the way through the field, that way even the cars at the back have a good reason to carry on racing each other.

  44. Please email all the teams and FOTA and complain about the 7th place thing (5 pts when it should be 4)

    I would prefer 15,12,10,8,6,5,4,3,2,1 but that aint going to happen, so if we’re going to get

    25,20,15,10,8,6,5?!!?,3,2,1 … lets get that 5 changed..

    email williams, mclaren, FIA, FOTA, force india, USf1, asap!

    get it done people , otherwise we’re stuck with this sea-saw system

    Steve

  45. How about
    10, 6, 4, 3, 2.5, 2, 1.5, 1, 0.5 ?

    – It maintains 10 points for a win for history’s sake
    – Big gap between 1st and 2nd place to encourage people to go for the win
    – Point awards extended to 9th place

  46. It will make a big difference if you have a few DNF’s. Therefor finishing will become more important than racing.

  47. the easiest way to ammend the 7th place thing is just make 7th worth 4 points.

    25(-5) 20(-5) 15(-5) 10(-2) 8(-2) 6(-2) 4(-2) 3(-1) 2(-1) 1.

    seems it would be more fair.

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