Michael Schumacher on Thursday joined the majority of the Formula One world by questioning the FIA's latest rules changes.

The former champion, still an advisor to the Ferrari team, said the lateness of the announcements prior to the season is ‘astonishing’, but he also questions the wisdom of their content.

"I cannot imagine those changes to help F1, especially regarding the new (scoring) system to find the champion," said the 40-year-old German.

In the past, he has been quoted as believing the points margin between first and second was only reduced from four to two points in 2003 to make it harder for him to dominate championships.

But Schumacher does not agree with this change. "I cannot see how it makes sense to eventually have a world champion who has less points than the driver coming in second, even if I also think it is a good move to try to strengthen the winner's position," he added.

Mark Webber is more welcoming of the new system, agreeing with F1 Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone that it increases the motivation to push for race wins.


"I can see why they're trying to do it like that so there could be some guys who might not sit in so much and to start going for wins, especially when it's down to two or three guys," he told the BBC.

"Everyone's trying to win, that's clear, but the difference between a win and second now is huge, much bigger than in the past.”

"There could be a fraction more aggression shown towards victories in the future because second places won't mean as much, and winning will mean a lot more," he added.

Webber, however, personally sees the change as ‘not good or bad’, and also unnecessary, and warns that a possible side-effect is that scraps between more than two drivers for the title is less likely.

"Robert Kubica would have been nowhere near the championship last year, and do you want that? (Also) you could have the world champion making more mistakes than the guy who is second," he added.

E.A, Source: GMM

 

There is no doubt in 03 that the FIA narrowed the points-margin to make it more difficult for him to continue to dominate. I mean, the guy would clinch mid-season, and I'm sure viewership just fell off after he would clinch. I remember Juan Pablo and others within podium range complaining about it. He was unstoppable (until he hit his low point at Monaco during qualifying in 06) so they had to reign him in for the audience. It would be interesting to look and see whether there would have ever been a season where Schumi would have lost on points, but won on GP wins. I can't remember the last time the season ended that way, beyond last year.

The motivation for this latest "most-wins" rule is of the same vein. You probably have Ferrari and viewership complaining that F1 is a sport which allows for the season champion to have fewer than the greatest number of GP wins. Like I said in post the other day, though, I don't think this rule will change things that much because the grid is so much more marginally competitive than the Schumi era.

 

I love how close the points spread has been the last few years. When up to 3 drivers are in very close contention to win the WDC in the final race, you'll have every fan glued to their TV for every single race. I don't think they should change the rules around at all, but if they do, it shouldn't be such a radical move like the medals system would be imposing.