Martin Brundle condemns ‘lucky dip’ F1 points revamp proposal ahead of key meeting
Martin Brundle has criticised a proposal to change the F1 points-scoring system next year, insisting it should not come down to “some kind of lucky dip where everyone wins a prize”.
The F1 Commission is meeting on Thursday to discuss the proposal that would see the current system, where the top 10 receive points, alter to the top 12 receiving points in 2025.
The proposal comes about with three teams currently on zero points after five races this season, with a distinct gap between the top five teams and the rest of the grid making a top 10 spot difficult to come by for the likes of Williams, Sauber and Alpine.
Yet Sky F1 pundit Brundle has condemned the proposal, insisting it devalues the achievement of securing world championship points.
Brundle wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Formula One world championship points must be hard won and treasured. Valued. Not some kind of lucky dip where everyone wins a prize.”
The current points structure has been in place since 2010, when ninth and tenth were included and the scale of points changed to 25 for first place and a sliding scale of 18-15-12-10-6-6-4-2-1 behind the winner.
However, the new proposal to be discussed between teams, F1 and the FIA in Geneva on Thursday would see the scale modified to 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 to include 11th and 12th.
The first five races of the 2024 season have seen Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Aston Martin secure 88 per cent of points available, with RB on seven points and Haas on five.
Laurent Mekies, the RB team principal and a key driver of the fresh proposal, said in Shanghai: “Even the bottom five teams are large organisations and it’s very difficult to explain to the outside world, to our partners and to our fans that we battle for P11 but it actually gains zero points.”
Before 2010, F1 only awarded points to the top eight finishers on a lower scale of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1, a structure that had been in place for eight years.
Should the new proposal be signed off at today’s meeting, it would still need to be ratified by the FIA’s World Motorsport Council.
