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Formula 1

Double points on offer for last F1 race of season

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Are you sitting down? Go on, sit down, right now…

The FIA has just announced a rule that will see the final race of the 2014 Formula 1 season, and beyond, be awarded double championship points in a bid to keep the title race alive to the last possible moment.

It might seem like first-class comedy, but this is real and it is going to happen next year. The rule change means the winner of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will get 50 points, instead of the usual 25. More pertinently, the driver who finishes third in the final race will get 30 points, more than of any other race winner during the year.

Also agreed at the meeting of the F1 Strategy Group was the introduction of permanent driver numbers. Each driver can pick a number between 2 and 99, with the number 1 reserved for the world champion if he chooses to use it.

A seemingly impromptu tyre test will take place in Bahrain next week (17–19 December) to give teams an opportunity to test Pirelli’s 2014 rubber. While all teams were invited only six of the 11 teams have accepted: Red Bull Racing, Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Force India and Toro Rosso.

Five second penalties for minor infringements could also be introduced in 2014 after an in principle agreement was reached. We suspect arguments over how such a penalty would be added might scupper this for next year, at least.

And, finally, in what is possibly the most far reaching of the agenda items, agreement has been reached, in principle, to introduce a cost cap to Formula 1 starting from the 2015 season.

Back to the double points decision for a moment. We wonder if race organisers will now fight for the right to host the final grand prix of the season; in effect the status of the event has increased twofold. And will this gimmick be accepted by F1 fans? We’ve become used to DRS for artificial overtaking, so in time we expect the double points race will be embraced too. As dumb as that seems right now.

One last question: How long until Bernie’s sprinklers get switched on at random intervals to help spice up the racing?

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Formula One Regulation Changes

FIA Formula One World Championship

Paris – 9 December 2013

Following a meeting of the F1 Strategy Group and the Formula One Commission in Paris today, the following items have been unanimously approved:

• Cost cap

The principle of a global cost cap has been adopted. The limit will be applied from January 2015.

A working group will be established within the coming days comprising the FIA, representatives of the Commercial Rights Holder and Team representatives.

The objective of the working group will be to have regulations approved by the end of June 2014.

• Pirelli Tyre test – Bahrain, 17-19 December, 2013

The F1 Commission agreed to a change to the 2013 Sporting Regulations, on safety grounds, allowing the Formula One tyre supplier to carry out a three-day test in Bahrain from 17-19 December, 2013. All Formula One teams have been invited to take part in the test and six have accepted: Red Bull Racing, Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Force India and Toro Rosso.

• Driver numbers

Drivers will be asked to choose their race number, between 2 and 99, for the duration of their career in the FIA Formula One World Championship. Number 1 will be reserved for the current World Champion, should he choose to use it.

If more than one driver choses the same number, priority will be given to the driver who finished highest in the previous year’s championship.

• New penalties

The principle of a five-second penalty for minor infringements was agreed. In what form such a penalty will be applied will be discussed with Formula One’s teams in order that a new regulation be introduced for 2014 season.

• Points for the last race

Double drivers’ and constructors’ points will be awarded at the final race of the Formula One season in order to maximise focus on the Championship until the end of the campaign.

These changes are immediately applicable, given the mandate assigned to the FIA President at the last World Motor Sport Council meeting, held on 4 December in Paris.

– FIA Formula One Press Office

16 replies on “Double points on offer for last F1 race of season”

I’m in shock. I’ve now read this on all my regular F1 sites. Words cannot describe the bitter feeling that grows in me towards the FIA and F1 alike. First the engine rule for 2014, then the new penalty system that started this year and now the points becoming so convoluted that there can never be any statistical information drawn ever again.

I just cannot fathom why and where it all started to go wrong. I already have my tickets for the Australian GP 2014, but this might be the last event I ever attend and 2014 might be the last year I actually follow F1 with a passion. Full of sadness at the death of F1 as we know it.

Cool! next they could introduce “power plays” – maybe Monaco and Austria – where triple points are on offer!! How about double points for wet races? the possibilities are endless! Go Bernie….

Seems like a really silly decision in a year when no one at this stage is going to have any idea what will have happened between now and Abu Dhabi.

Its not as though there are no new rules or engine changes to worry about in 2014!

If they think it is going to be business as usual, ie Seb x 5 World championships then surely they can think of something better than doubling the points of the last race. Failure of imagination.

Why not introduce a handicap system. Not weight based, that also lacks imagination but race based.

Marussia, Caterham get to run all 19 races, Williams and say Force India say 16, Red Bull, Ferrari and say Mercedes get 12. The heavily handicapped cars get to run 6 races of their choice during the year plus the final six races. They can wager against the races that they think their cars will do well in and those that they won’t.

Marussia, Caterham et all get to race for a chance to win 500 points but Seb, Daniel, Kimi, Fernando etc only have the opportunity to race for 325 points.

Might get some really good racing that way!

I reckon for the last round, all the drivers toss their “keys” into hat. Then pull out a random car. What a hoot it would be to see Vettel in a Caterham or Marussia….

Tom, another creative approach to the question of deciding the 2014 F1 winner.

Bernie et al should consulted us before making the stupid decision they did.

Dunno if this is all Bernie’s work, but for all the good his iron fist approach has done for F1 he can sometimes be a real nutjob.

What did you expect? Arab oil money. They would of put the pressure on Bernie and bought the bi@#h. Not only did the Arabs piss Brazil off the last GP (like they tried to do to the Australian GP once by going for the 1st GP slot, but in order to make the final GP relevant and for people to watch to advertise their desert of a country they made sure double points would turn decades of F1 tradition on its head.

I’m sorry but this is absolutely BS, just like Qatar winning the World Cup was absolute BS!!!

I guess when you have the amount of oil money these b@#$hes have anyone and anything can be bought I hope I live long enough to see the day when these pricks run out of oil and they return to being desert dwelling camel f#$%ers that they truly are.

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