FIA puts brakes on Bernie Ecclestone medal plan

Bernie Ecclestone's radical plan to replace the points system by which the Formula One drivers' championship is scored, with gold, silver and bronze medals for the podium places, is likely to be rejected by the FIA, which must approve the new system to bring it into being.

The Formula One rights holder re-stated his determination to introduce a medal-based championship during a press conference in London yesterday. Ecclestone believes that a medal regime would encourage drivers to overtake and he repeated his resolve to have the new system up and running in time for the first race of next season, in Melbourne at the end of March. “It's going to happen,” he said.

But influential voices in the sport have criticised the scheme. Eddie Jordan, the former team owner, called it “a nonsense” and Damon Hill, the former world champion, said he was “baffled” by a proposal that could mean the championship is decided by the halfway point. Under Ecclestone's plan, Felipe Massa would have been crowned world champion this year rather than Lewis Hamilton.

Ecclestone will need FIA endorsement of his idea at its World Motor Sport Council meeting in Monaco next month, but he is not expected to get it. The world governing body is far from convinced that the teams are in favour of the change as Ecclestone has claimed.
Even if Ecclestone managed to get his proposal through, it would not be implemented until the beginning of the 2010 season at the earliest.

Timeonline.co.uk