Ecclestone certain new points will work

Yesterday the FIA World Motor Sport Council agreed the radical change to the system, which had been proposed by Ecclestone's Formula One Management organisation as an alternative to the F1 supremo's original suggestion of medals for the top three in each race. The Formula One Teams' Association's idea for a 12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1 points system was rejected.

Ecclestone has welcomed the FIA's decision and expects it to make a big difference to the racing at the front of the field.

"It's a modification of my idea of medals, which I wanted to go down to bronze in third place, but this is a good start," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"The idea is to get people racing. Somebody that's second has got to try and win rather than thinking that if he happens to win he'll only get two (more) points - not a big motivation to try and get past someone.

"For what reason would they want to get past? If somebody's in the lead and you're in second, why are you going to want to take risks to get past for two (more) points?"

He is adamant that the scoring system was the main reason for the lack of action in lead battles in recent years.

"There are all these complaints that the cars are wrong and the circuits are wrong, but in the end I think the guys that are actually driving the cars have a lot to do with it," said Ecclestone. "If you were first and I was second, and I thought it was a risk to overtake you, I wouldn't bother."

Had the 'winner takes all' system been in place in 2008, Felipe Massa would have won the championship rather than Lewis Hamilton. But Ecclestone thinks Hamilton would have pushed harder for victories had the new method applied.

"On a couple of occasions when he could've and should've overtaken, he didn't," Ecclestone said.

He thinks the change will get a positive reception from drivers.

"Really and truly the guys that know they're going to win are quite happy, and the ones that aren't going to win don't care," said Ecclestone.

"It was unanimously agreed by the world council, it went through nicely, and we're going to leave all the points for the other championships as they are at the moment."