FIA to vote on revised points system

A proposal unveiled by the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) to change the current points structure to a new system that rewards more for winning - broken down 12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1 - has been officially put forward to the FIA for consideration.

The WMSC will now look at the document and take a vote on whether or not to adopt it for 2009.

FOTA has put forward the idea for changing the points system as the result of a market research survey it conducted with F1 fans. McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh, who heads up the sporting group of FOTA, said that it was vital that followers of the sport were listened to.

"What we felt within FOTA was having conducted a very thorough survey of audience views and advice, we shouldn't ignore it," he said. "There were people who felt status quo was the best thing but I think what swung it was the opinion of the audience.

"We, as FOTA, have unanimously agreed that is what we want to see introduced this year. We now have to work with the commercial rights holder and with the FIA and seek their endorsement of that proposal."

Although the decision about changing the points will be of the biggest interest to F1 fans, the most important announcement of the day for teams will relate to emergency cost-cutting ideas that are due to be analysed by the WMSC.

An FIA statement issued earlier this month suggested that the 'radical' proposals would allow a team to "compete for a fraction of current budgets but nevertheless field cars which can match those of the established teams."

Although no details of what is being looked at have been revealed, it is understood the new rules relate to more standardisation, further reductions in testing and the imposition of a budget cap.

FIA president Max Mosley said last month that the current worldwide economic crisis meant it was essential the governing body acted swiftly.

"It was bad enough before the current situation, it is now a complete disaster," he said. "It obviously has to stop. We think it should stop for 2010 and we are urging the teams to do that."