Mosley toys with drivers swapping idea

Writing in his exclusive column for F1 Racing, Mosley is attempting to make the point that Formula One is not run solely based on his own wishes, but rather as an equitable democracy.

"Critics who claim the contrary are invariably people who haven't bothered to investigate," Mosley writes, while taking another dig at Michelin, "such as the tyre company executive who attacked us for going to a single tyre supplier for 2008 without realising that we did this at the unanimous request of the teams and car manufacturers involved in F1."

And to prove his point, Mosley lays out his idea for drivers swap - an idea he says "would never get through the FIA's democratic procedures."

Mosley has already suggested the idea publicly in 2002, when the FIA was looking into various ideas to improve the spectacle of Formula One, following a dominant year by Ferrari and Michael Schumacher.

"With my scheme, the world championship would work in an entirely different way," Mosley explains in his latest F1 Racing column, Grip 'n' Spin.

"For simplicity, let's assume there are 12 teams and 18 races. Each driver would drive each car once, so that after the first 12 races all 24 drivers would have driven the car of each team once.

"At this point, the leading driver would nominate the six different teams for which he'd drive in the last six races. The driver lying second in the championship would then make his choices, and so on.

"The order in which each driver drove for each team would be decided by lot for both the first 12 races and the last six races. Points for drivers and teams would be awarded as now.

"It would be fascinating, wouldn't it, to see how Michael Schumacher would get on in a McLaren or STR, or Kimi Raikkonen in a Renault or Midland; not to mention the current STR, Midland or Aguri drivers having a go in the top cars? Each race would feature whole new combinations.

"And, most important, no one could even say that a driver won the title because he had the best car or that a car won because it had the best driver. A lot of illusions would be shattered."

According to Mosley, under his scheme car development and testing would be carried out by test drivers - similar to today's Friday third drivers - who in turn will become the "pool of drivers that the next race drivers would be drawn" from.

He also suggests the drivers would be paid "a modest basic fee" by the sport's commercial rights holder and would make up their riches from personal sponsorship.

But Mosley admits the idea is widely regarded as "impractical, or even fairly mad," and he adds: "I don't suppose it will ever happen, and it's only one of a number of things I'd do if I could.

"Perhaps it is as well that it isn't just down to me."