FIA to consider medals system

The FIA is taking a close look at Bernie Ecclestone’s controversial proposal to replace the current Formula 1 points system with Olympic-style medals.

His idea is that the driver with the most wins should be World Champion, with the number of seconds being used as a tie-break, and so on. Under that system Felipe Massa would have been the 2008 World Champion, with the contentious Belgian Grand Prix effectively deciding the title.

“We want to do away with the points for drivers and replace them with gold medals,” Ecclestone told Motor Sport. “Imagine the guy that won the last race was the World Champion? It would be good to finish championships like that. In Brazil Lewis [Hamilton] didn’t have to win, he just had to finish.

“The other guys would get a classification, like one fourth is better than 10 fifths. You’re going to get better racing. It seems to be a system that’s worked for a long time in the Olympics, for example.”