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'Unfair' F1 points system will stay: Mosley

February 03, 2004 20:04 IST

Formula One will continue with the revised points system introduced in 2003 despite Ferrari criticisms that it is unfair, FIA president Max Mosley has said.

"There has been no move at all (to reconsider) either in the Formula One commission or recently in a meeting of team principals," he said.

"I think it was Luca who said 'it's unfair.' Well, we know that. I don't think it will change."

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has criticised the system, which awards points in a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 format instead of a previous 10-6-4-3-2-1, and urged the International Automobile Federation to change it.

The scoring puts a premium on consistent finishing rather than race wins. McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen almost secured the championship last year despite the Finn having only one victory to Michael Schumacher's six.

The German claimed a record sixth title by two points.

Mosley conceded that it would have been unjust had Raikkonen clinched the title at the final race of the season at Suzuka but said it was a price that had to be paid.

"It's one of those things that was discussed at great length," he told reporters. "The downside is that you could win the championship without winning an event.

"The smaller you make the gap (between first and second) the more likely you are to have somebody who has only won one race or no races winning the championship. It really could happen.

"But then the other side is that it makes it more likely that people go to the end of the season, which indeed it did. If we'd had the old points system we wouldn't have gone to Suzuka last year with the championship still open.

"We could have got a very unfair result if it had rained at that race at Suzuka and probably Raikkonen would have been champion. And you could argue that would have been, in regard to the whole season, not the right result.

"But that's the price you pay for a system that makes it interesting."


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