Bernie: F1 medals plan to happen
Updated on 26 November 2008
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone reveals plans to have the drivers' world championship decided by gold medals rather than points.
Ecclestone says he wants the title won by the driver who wins most races to make the sport more exciting and prevent a repeat of this year's situation where McLaren's Lewis Hamilton needed only to finish fifth in Brazil to be champion.
Under Ecclestone's Olympic-style plan, the top three in each race would get gold, silver and bronze medals.
Points would count only towards the constructors' standings and to decide overall rankings.
The 78-year-old Briton returned to the theme at a news conference to announce a new sponsorship partner for the championship today.
"It's going to happen. All the teams are happy, we're happy and the (governing) FIA are happy," he said.
"The whole reason for this was that I get fed up with people talking about no overtaking. The reason there is no overtaking is nothing to do with the circuits, very little to do with the cars, it's that drivers don't need to overtake.
"If you are in the lead and I'm second, I'm not going to take a chance maybe falling off the road and doing something silly to get two (more) points," added Ecclestone.
"But if I now need to get gold medals because the most gold medals win the championship, then I will overtake you, I promise. And that's what will happen.
"This year, on a number of occasions, Lewis didn't bother to overtake Massa for that reason. And I wouldn't. If he had driven for me and tried and made a mistake, I would have complained. It's just not on that someone can win the world championship without winning a race."
