Ecclestone: Medal system next year

Speaking at the announcement of a technology partnership between F1 and Korean electronics giant LG in London today, Ecclestone said he expects his plan to be ratified at the next FIA World Motorsport Council meeting.

"It's going to happen," said Ecclestone. "All the teams are happy. The whole reason for this was that I was fed up with people talking about no overtaking. The reason there's no overtaking is nothing to do with the circuit or the people involved, it's to do with the drivers not needing to overtake.

"If you are in the lead and I'm second, I'm not going to take a chance and risk falling off the road or doing something silly to get two more points. If I need to do it to win a gold medal, because the most medals win the world championship, I'm going to do that. I will overtake you."

Ecclestone added that his system would promote a more exciting world championship fight.

"This year, we saw on a number of occasions Lewis not overtaking Massa for that reason," said Ecclestone. "If he'd driven for me, tried it and made a mistake, I would have complained. It's just not on that someone can win the world championship without winning a race."

When asked of the timescale for implementing his plan, Ecclestone replied: "Next year. I'm hoping it will be approved at the next FIA meeting."

When then asked if it was fair that someone who wins six races but doesn't finish any others, beats someone who had finished every race in second place, Ecclestone replied: "He'll have to try harder next year."

Under the proposed medal scheme, Felipe Massa rather than Lewis Hamilton would have won this year's world championship with six race victories to Hamilton's five.