The "other" 2008 F1 Championship

[Burnsie]

As we all know, Lewis Hamilton clinched his first Formula One championship by the narrowest of margins over Felipe Massa, and the fact that the title contenders were so close on points approaching the last few rounds of the season made for a thrilling finalé.

I was thinking back to the FIA's decision to alter the points scoring positions following Michael Schumacher's enormous 2002 championship winning margin. If that decision had never been taken and points were still awarded on a 10-6-4-3-2-1 basis, would this year's championship have had as dramatic a climax? Would the Ferrari/McLaren/BMW battle have ended up with a different outcome? Would Hamilton have even won the championship?? After a bit of number-crunching, I came up with the answers...


Firstly, a breakdown of how the points would have been scored at each race...

Raikkonen		10	6	10	4			6	3	1	4					4	4	4
Massa			10	6	10	4	2	10		4		10	10	1			6	10
Heidfeld	6	1	3		2		6		6	3			6	2	1		2
Kubica		6	4	3	3	6	10	2				4	1	4		6	1
Alonso	3				1				1		3		3	3	10	10	3	6
Piquet										6	1					3
Rosberg	4														6
Nakajima	1
Coulthard							4
Webber				2		3		1
Trulli		3	1				1	4				2				2
Glock							3				6				3			1
Bourdais
Vettel						2						1	2	10	2	1		3
Button				1
Barrichello						1			4
Sato
Davidson
Sutil
Fisichella
Hamilton	10	2		4	6	10			10	10	2	6	4		4		10	2
Kovalainen	2	4	2					3	2	2	10	3		6

And now a look at what the outcome of the Drivers World Championship would have been...

Driver	Pts	Pos +/-
Massa	83	+1
Hamilton	80	-1
Raikkonen	56	-
Kubica	50	-
Alonso	43	-
Heidfeld	38	-
Kovalainen	34	-
Vettel	21	-
Trulli	13	-
Glock	13	-
Rosberg	10	+2
Piquet	10	-
Webber	6	-2
Barrichello	5	-
Coulthard	4	+1
Nakajima	1	-1
Button	1	-
Bourdais	0	-
Fisichella	0	-
Sutil	0	-
Sato	0	-
Davidson	0	-

Finally, the hypothetical outcome of the Constructors World Championship...

Constructor	Pts	Pos +/-
Ferrari	139	-
McLaren Mercedes	114	-
BMW Sauber	88	-
Renault	53	-
Toyota	26	-
Torro Rosso Ferrari	21	-
Williams Toyota	11	+1
Red Bull Renault	10	-1
Honda	6	-
Force India Ferrari	0	-
Super Aguri Honda	0	-

So there you have it - Felipe Massa would have won the championship if the previous points scoring system was still being used! To be honest I was surprised that there are so few differences between the actual F1 tables and the ones above. Aside from the winner and runner-up, the order of the top ten drivers remains unchanged; and there is only one change in the constructors championship, with Williams just pipping Red Bull for 7th position.

The significance of all of this is that as reported back in March (see here) Bernie Ecclestone has made it clear that he would prefer to see the older points scoring system reinstated.

Any thoughts...?

[Marbot]

And not surprisingly.......http://www.f1technical.net/news/1101...f459816a193bc5

[Super Hans]

I'd like to see the old points system brought back too, but that takes nothing away from Hamilton's acheivement.

They all knew the points system when the season started.

[matchfacts]

Imagine how controversial the Belgian result would be if the title did go on a race wins system - or the old scoring system.

[Adam43]

Of course if the system was different and the drivers were driving knowing this then the result could have been different.

[JamesH]

The problem with BE's medal system is the championship could be decided after only half the season. Where is the incentive to overtake when you are already world champion....???

[Super Hans]

Originally Posted by JamesH

The problem with BE's medal system is the championship could be decided after only half the season. Where is the incentive to overtake when you are already world champion....???

It's wrong to think that there'd be no reason to race once the championship had been decided.

Surely drivers have a natural instinct to want to pass the guy in front, not to mention the desire to win Grands Prix and score more points for their team.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by JamesH

The problem with BE's medal system is the championship could be decided after only half the season. Where is the incentive to overtake when you are already world champion....???

To win a race?

The main problem with the championship is that it dominates everything. Grand Prix on their own are no longer considered special. I like the championship being over early then we get races.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by AdamAshmore

Of course if the system was different and the drivers were driving knowing this then the result could have been different.

Spot on. The teams would be with different stratetgies and I believe that Hamilton could have a bigger margin in the end.

[Born Racer]

I like the championship being over early then we get races.

This also helps when you're rooting for Hamilton and can't always be doing with the tension he induces.

[Burnsie]

I'd like this to be a black-or-white issue, but it really isn't. On one hand I agree with those who say that the emphasis of Formula One, and motorsport in general, should be about winning - not consistency. In my view, reverting to the previous points system would help to achieve this. However on the other hand, the fact that engines now have to last for three races means that, to some extent, teams would dictate whether or not a driver could/should chase for the extra points. For example, if a driver is in P2 during his third race with the same engine, is the potential reward for collecting an extra four points a big enough incentive for him to push, or should he turn the revs down and live to fight another day...?

[Stefvh]

With Bernie medals idea.

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
1	Massa	6	2	2		1	1	1						2				1
2	Hamilton	5	2	3		3		1			1		1	1
3	Raikkonen	2	2	5	1		1		1	2									1
4	Alonso	2	1		5		2		2		2	1
5	Kubica	1	3	3	2	1	2	1	1			2
6	Kovalainen	1	1	1	2	4		1	1	1	2		1
7	Vettel	1			1	3	2		2	1			1					1
8	Heidfeld		4		2	3	2			3	2			1	1
9	Rosberg		1	1					3	1	2	1	2		3	1	1
10	Glock		1		2		1	2		2		3	2	1
11	Piquet		1		1		1	1	1		1	2				1
12	Trulli			1	1	2	2	2	2	1	1			2			1
13	Barrichello			1			1	1				2		2	2	1	2	1
14	Coulthard			1				1		3	1	2	1	1			1	1	1
15	Webber				1	1	1	3	3	2	1		2		1
16	Nakajima						1	2	2				2	1	3	3		2
17	Button						1			1	1	3	1	2	1	2	2
18	Bourdais							2			2	1	2	2	1	1		1	2
19	Fisichella										1		2		2	1		3	2
20	Sutil													1		1	2			3
21	Sato													1			1	1
22	Davidson															1	1

[Burnsie]

Originally Posted by Stefvh

With Bernie medals idea...

Looks interesting Stefvh, not sure that I follow it though...?

[duke_toaster]

It's countback. "1" is first places, "2" is second places, "3" is third places.

[Burnsie]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

It's countback. "1" is first places, "2" is second places, "3" is third places.

Sorry, you're going to have to break it down a bit further for me

Why does Anthony Davidson have two 1's from rounds 15 & 16?

[Adam43]

The 15 and 16 don't refer to the rounds rather the positions he finished in.

Using Massa to demonstrate; Massa had 6 wins, 2 second places, 2 third places, 1 fifth place, etc...

[duke_toaster]

They're not rounds 15 and 16, they are the number of 15th places and 16th places.

[Bononi]

The numbers in front of each driver is the number of times he finished in that position and the numbers in the title are the finish position.

[Burnsie]

Ah it all makes sense now!

(It doesn't say much for me when it takes three people to explain one concept... )

Cheers guys!

[Aloysius]

Interesting to see it under the old system. I must say a slightly prefer the new system, mainly because points back to eight gives more people a chance. Still, if you put the Spa result right, then Hamilton wins anyway.

[Burnsie]

Originally Posted by Aloysius

I must say a slightly prefer the new system, mainly because points back to eight gives more people a chance.

I can see where you're coming from there. Although with only 20 drivers in a race, I think that six point scorers is enough. F1 claims to be the pinnacle of motorsport, so why should mediocrity be rewarded? That sounds very harsh, but I mean it in the nicest possible way towards the smaller teams who are doing the very best they can with limited resources. I just agree with Bernie (for once) that the driver who wins the most races should be the champion.

[shugruah]

You know very well that if the system were other the race options of teams and pilotes would have been other during the entire season...

What I would like to have next year is a rulling and a judging system that is aplied to everyone in the same way...

cause if you score to hamilton his Belgian GP victory he finishes 7points ahead... (LH +4; Massa -2)... so... not even with the old system...........

[runshaw]

Although interesting, what is the point of discussing how it would have resulted when using the old points system? Thats history. The teams/drivers work to the (not so new now) points system.

[Burnsie]

Originally Posted by runshaw

what is the point of discussing how it would have resulted when using the old points system?

I'll copy and paste the last bit of my original post for you...

The significance of all of this is that as reported back in March (see here) Bernie Ecclestone has made it clear that he would prefer to see the older points scoring system reinstated.

[runshaw]

Don't bother, i've read it. Bernie has those views, yes. But like I say. What's the point?! Nothing was changed! And that is that, basically. Sort of a contradiction for Bernie anyway, because he says Hamilton is a great champion.