The FIA would be ready to backtrack

The FIA has declared its readiness to postpone the implementation of its new controversial rule which consists of awarding the world champion driver’s title to the one with the most wins rather than the one with the most points.

The federation admitted it could postpone this rule to 2010 if the teams involved in F1 were against its implementation.

In order to increase the prestige of the victory, the FOTA recently proposed a new point system where the difference between the winner and the runner-up is three points instead of two.

The World Motor Sport Council, held on Tuesday, March 17, rejected this idea in favor of the “number of victories” system to everyone’s surprise.

Since the Council’s deliberation, many drivers and team principals have publicly expressed their disapproval, particularly insisting that the decision had been made with immediate effect. All those concerned also showed a preference for a championship that rewards consistency through the traditional points system, which constitutes the essence of competition in F1.

In parallel to this general outcry, the second twist occurred on Friday, March 20: the FOTA questioned the validity of this change after analyzing the articles of the international sporting code that the FIA apparently did not respect.

This reaction from the FOTA, not hesitating to initiate a showdown with the FIA, apparently bore fruit as only a few hours later, the international federation admitted through a press release that it was in favor of reverting and awarding the 2009 title in the traditional manner, to the driver with the most points.

In the same statement, the FIA announced, to everyone’s surprise, that it accepted a slightly modified version of Bernie Ecclestone’s system because it believed the teams were in favor of its implementation. However, Ecclestone’s proposal to award medals to the top three drivers of the events, similar to the Olympics, had sparked strong criticism from both the paddock and the fans…

Here is the FIA’s statement:

On March 17, the FIA World Motor Sport Council unanimously rejected the FOTA’s proposal to change the points system for the World Drivers’ Championship. The system of awarding the title to the driver with the most victories, proposed by the commercial rights holder and reportedly favored by the teams, was then approved.

« If, for any reason, the Formula 1 teams are not in favor of the new system, its implementation will be postponed to 2010. »

Faced with the numerous reactions sparked by this decision since Tuesday, it is highly likely that the 2009 title will ultimately be awarded in the “classic” way, that is, based on the number of points.