F1 drivers and team bosses opine on the idea of extending points from Top 10 to Top 12 drivers from 2025 season onward to reward more teams.
Over the weekend in Chinese GP, it emerged that F1 were mulling to extend the points scoring from the current Top 10 to Top 12 from as early as the 2025 season. The idea is to reward few more teams and drivers in the current scheme of things.
There has been growing situation where the Top 10 is more or less decided by Red Bull, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Mercedes and McLaren, leaving the rest of the teams to fight for lowly positions in the Top 10 for few points rather than more.
While it doesn’t solves the problem of the gap between the F1 teams, but it helps the lower rug teams to earn more points and fight in the races. The current system of points scoring which has been place for several years, is: 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1.
The proposed system will look like: 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. The bigger changes will come into effect from eighth place to 12th where the drivers will have a chance to score more than what they currently do.
The proposed system was discussed at the F1 Commission meeting this week and seemingly only required approval of five teams along with the FIA and FOM for 2025. But as of now, they have decided to undertake more research before taking any decision.
Here’s what some of the F1 drivers and team bosses said –
Esteban Ocon: “Well, it’s putting a plaster on a big cut, let’s call it like this. It’s a way of helping the current situation, I think. It would definitely work because we would have been scoring points today. But I would prefer to be able to race at the front and to have every team closer. I think it is fair to say that it is a small gain on what we are trying to do: making all the cars closer.”
Kevin Magnussen: “I think that would be good. Maybe points for everyone would be better so that you always have something to fight for. It’s not going to change the end result in the championship, but I think it just means that it’s a more interesting fight between the bottom five. So maybe it’s 50 points for the P1, and you spread it out – maybe that’s a good idea. Something to make it interesting. You know, when you’re fighting for P16 or 14 or something like that, it’d be good if there was still a good fight… something to fight for. It feels pointless [now].”
Valtteri Bottas: “At the moment, where we are as a team, yes. But if you’re in a top three, top four team, then you don’t mind. That’s how it goes. But for us, yeah. To be fair for everybody, I think the more points positions there are, even in the sprint, I think it’s better. It creates even more competition.”
Alexander Albon: “Would I want that? Maybe – but at the same time, you want to be a Top 5 team. In some respects it feels like when you’re one of the bottom five teams, you’re looking for that one wet, damp, red flag race that’s going to transform your whole championship. That’s what we’re relying on. Last year it felt like it was a bit closer, the McLarens weren’t always there and you could fight at other weekends. It’s true that now consistently, unless there’s a DNF, nothing is going to happen. We are fighting for P10 most of the time. I should ask my team if we want it – myself, I don’t really care. I’d rather just do a better job and be a Top 5 team.”
Pierre Gasly: “They [bottom five teams] have just got to do a better job, it’s simple as that, it’s always been the same. The last couple of years, if you’re not in the top 10, you just got to work it out and make a faster car. I’m happy with how it is. I don’t want to change too much the way Formula 1 is. Sometimes when you’ve got a great tool, there’s no need to just reinvent the wheel. I’m happy to keep it as it is.”
Frederic Vasseur: “I’m not against [it]. And coming from Alfa Romeo, I perfectly understand sometimes the frustration that you are doing a mega weekend, but if there is no DNF in front of you then you finish P11 and the reward is zero. At the moment you can finish P11 or P 20 and it is the same, so I can understand the frustration for this.”
Christian Horner: “I’m sort of ambivalent to it. I think that you can see it’s very competitive. It feels like there are two groups in Formula 1 at the moment, and the teams from six to 10 are in as hard a fight as one to five. I think it’s one of those things where you’ve just got to run the numbers and look at the analytics and say: what would it actually change? So I’m impartial to it. Unless, of course, you’re paying points money.
Ayao Komatsu: “What’s the downside? Currently, we have three teams with zero points and I don’t think that’s good for sport. If somebody was awarded points for P11, P12, there will be less people with zero points. So, I think it’s clearer for the fans and for the motivation of everybody working in a team as well. It’s much better to come out with P12 with one point, P11 with two points – it’s a reward.”
Here’s FIA decision on the topic
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