Does the points system need revising?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Does the points system need revising?


Will Power won his second IndyCar driver's championship, beating Josef Newgarden by 16 points. However, Will Power only won one race, while Josef Newgarden won 5.

Part of winning a championship is being consistent and getting good points finishes and Will Power was certainly consistent, with 12 top 5 finishes and 13 top 10 finishes. Josef Newgarden had 8 top 5 finishes and 12 top 10 finishes. However, the ultimate goal in any race is to win.

The table below shows the current points allocation, plus the extra points for Pole position etc., but does the points system adequately reward the race winner?



If there were a greater points difference between 1st and 2nd place and 55 points were awarded for a race win, instead of 50, then just on race wins alone and excluding the potential extra points, Josef Newgarden would have got another 25 points, giving him a total of 569 and the championship. Will Power would have got a total of 565. That's very close but I think better reflects the efforts for winning and for consistency.