Double points for the last race of the season This is pure Hollywood. But is it really entertaining or does it cause more problems than it solves?
If this rule had been in place in recent years, Lewis Hamilton would have lost the title to Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso would have won in 2012, so two of the most exciting races of recent times would have been killed as spectacles by the weight of numbers.
I’m not sure it would have made this year any more interesting.
F1 was right to explore things like DRS, as overtaking was nigh on impossible. It perhaps went too far, as the tyres certainly did, but there is a line which the sport shouldn’t cross otherwise it gets like WWF wrestling. And this final race points idea is dangerously close to crossing it. 50 points for a race win is absurd.
What it also does is open the door for some races to be “more equal than others”. There is a financial premium for the final race of the season already, but this adds to it, putting more attention on the showdown.
With diminishing returns from TV rights, the sport has been aggressively pursuing race hosting fees as a revenue growth area and playing around with points is another way to add some value to the promoter.
I think it will play badly with fans and – like that nutty tyre idea in 2005 – will be shortlived.
