New points need tweaking

The FIA ratified the Formula 1 Commission's suggested 25-20-15-10-8-6-5-3-2-1 points spread for the top ten finishers before Christmas, but Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali said today that this could still be altered.

There have been suggestions that a greater gap between the points for winning and finishing second should be introduced - a proposal Ecclestone would fully endorse.

"I think they were very clever in what they did, because the points system that we agreed has made no difference at all," he said.

"My idea was to make a much bigger gap between first and second, and maybe second and third. What I was trying to do was give people the incentive to overtake, not to sit there getting points."

Ecclestone also revealed that he had more radical proposals to improve the show - starting with a controversial plan to introduce 'shortcuts' at grand prix tracks that each driver could use for a limited number of times per race.

"I think it would be very easy for us on each circuit to have an area where you could gain a bit of time so you could overtake - a shortcut if you like - which a driver could use five times during the race, so it would stop people getting stuck behind somebody," he suggested.

"It's good for TV, good for the TV commentators, they could talk about somebody having three [shortcuts] left and somebody else having two and what's going to happen and so on."

He added that modern F1 cars' efficient brakes and reliability had also damaged the spectacle.

"The other thing I've been pushing like crazy with people is that brakes these days are so efficient that - I'll say this and it's probably wrong - I could brake as late as anyone else if I saw the braking markers," said Ecclestone.

"In the seventies and eighties, all the overtaking was done was under braking going into corners. That doesn't happen anymore.

"The other thing that's bad, in the seventies whoever was in the top six places at half distance, you could guarantee that by the end of the race only three of them would be there - and now all six are there. You don't get people stopping anymore."

But despite his desire for regulation changes to increase the level of drama in races, Ecclestone still believes that this year's driver and team line-up should produce an exciting championship, especially with Michael Schumacher's return.

"I think it's wonderful, it's going to be a good year - good competition inside the teams and the teams with each other," he said. "I'd be surprised if it wasn't one of the best years for a long time."