The F1 commission met today with representatives present from each Formula One team. On the agenda were a number of tweaks to the sporting regulations and the group did agree that rear facing cameras will be fitted on all the cars from the Spanish Grand Prix this year.

However, agreement was not reached on the proposal to update the current system of awarding points in F1. This is believed to have been initiated by Laurent Mekies who became the RB team principal at the start of the year.

 

 

 

Formula One divided

Since the introduction of the 2022 ground effect car design regulations, a gulf has developed amongst the field of ten teams with the top five significantly ahead of the rest. Such is the incredible reliability in F1 these days, the hope of cars having mechanical problems and retiring is almost non-existent.

So with points only given down to P10, with no driver error or car failure the five teams at the top are expected to score week in and out, while the others hope for a crash or freak occurrence before they can get into the points paying positions.

With a fifth of the 2024 season already completed, Sauber, Williams and Alpine have no points at all which demonstrates how difficult it is for the lower order teams to score points in modern F1.

Of course the die hard F1 traditionalists believe that in F1, it should be a real achievement finish in points paying position and to this end see no benefit in changing the system. 

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New points system proposed

Yet each year there is a significant risk of a “freak” race where the regular top ten contenders find some sort of calamity, opening the door to the rest. Yet the potential of scoring eight or ten points for a lower order team may well in just one race distort the true pecking order amongst the bottom five.

And for this reason – of fairness – F1 is debating whether to add two more points paying positions down to P12. The change would see the points awarded to the top 8 remain is as it is, then P9-P12 would receive 4-3-2-1 respectively.

To enact this change, the F1 commission requires at least five teams to consent and its not clear from the meeting yet whether any of the bigger teams opposed the proposal. The matter will be discussed again when the Commission meets again in July.

The current F1 points system has been in place since 2010 and it replaced the the older system which gave credit to the top eight finishers as follows: 12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1.

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5 teams required to agree

Failing to reach a conclusion today may in fact be because the Commission wants to reconsider the entire points allocation system. The 2010 new system of 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 increased the percentage reward for winning a race.

Previously the gap between P1 and P2 saw an incremental 16.67% points given to the race winner. Now that number is 32% and is contributing to the drivers’ championship in particular often being completed well before the end of the season.

No other major international motorsport series rewards the race winner as well as F1 does over the competitor finishing in second place. In IndyCar P1 receives 50 points and P2 just 40 points. The premium for the winner in North America is 20% more for the winner than their nearest challenger at the chequered flag.

Many F1 observers believe the weighting of the points for the winner in F1 is too big and somewhere between the 16.67% and the now 32% premium is a fairer choice. Giving P1 23 points and leaving the rest be would see the premium reduced from 32% down to just under 22%.

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New F1 24/7 channel

F1 announced today the launch of a 24/7 F1 channel in the USA. “The Formula 1 Channel is the latest development by F1 designed to further evolve and elevate our content experience for fans,” said Ian Holmes, F1’s Director of Media Rights and Content Creation at Formula 1.

“This service caters to the diverse viewing habits of our USA fanbase and serves as a great entry point for new fans into the sport, through strong curated programming, which aims to showcase the drama of F1.

“Together with C15 Studio, we hope to develop the Formula 1 Channel into an industry-leading product, that serves alongside our existing live broadcast offering with ESPN and F1 TV, to give fans a truly comprehensive F1 experience 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

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Re-run of recent races, delayed

This of course is part of the Formula One drive to ‘crack’ America. With free content available to those not familiar with the sport, it could be this reverses the 10% decline in TV audiences suffered in the USA during the 2023 season.

Contemporary content will not be shown until five days following the conclusion of the event which is ib respect for ESPN who currently hold the contract to broadcast the sport in the US.

In its statement F1 added the creation of its own FAST channel, which stands for free ad-supported streaming television, “reflects the latest television trends amongst fans in the USA”.

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Mercedes to control Hamilton car setup in future

The long slow divorce between Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes is now about 1/5th complete and as was to be expected, the relationship is beginning to deteriorate in a very public fashion. Hamilton publicly berated the Mercedes technical department early last season claiming they hadn’t ‘listened to him’ and calling for someone to take ownership for this.

Just a few weeks later Mercedes technical director was gone and James Allison back in post but the complaints are still ringing loud and clear. At the second event of the season in Saudi Arabia, when asked about the W15 a despondent Lewis said: “It was similar to previous years.”   READ MORE