Schumacher 'astonished' by new rules

The governing body announced that the world championship will go to the driver who scores the most wins, instead of the one with the most points scored.

The move has generally not been well received, and Schumacher has joined two-time champion Fernando Alonso in condemning the changes.

Schumacher believes the new method is not helping Formula 1, especially because of its late introduction, and the German admitted he was "astonished" by the rule.

"During the tests we had to fight with several topics as well but this is more than normal at this stage prior to the season," Schumacher wrote on his personal website.

"But you also have to say that KERS is a risk for all the teams using it, with this restricted testing possibilities. So there are, as always, certain question marks before the first races. But this is what makes the whole thing so attractive, isn't it?

"I doubt the same goes for the new rules given out on such a late moment prior to the season - something which to me is really, well, astonishing, as in all the years, when the majority wanted to have a rule change for a good reason, they always said that would not be possible in a short term or so late before a season.

"I cannot imagine those changes to help F1, especially regarding the new system to find the champion. I cannot see how it makes sense to eventually have a world champion who has less points than the driver coming in second, even if I also think it is a good move to try to strengthen the winner's position.

"In general we should also make sure that F1 remains the top series of motorsport, displaying its competition also on the highest technology level."

The former Ferrari driver reckons the Italian squad is in a strong position to fight for the title, but he believes the field is very close.

He also thinks the McLaren team is not looking strong at the moment.

"The last impressions were showing that we look pretty good and should be in the position to fight for the world championship titles," he added.

"The picture to me in the moment is that there are several teams able to be in the front, besides us there are Renault and Toyota, and BMW and Williams as well - on the other hand, after Barcelona you clearly have to say that Ross' team was outstanding.

"They were one second in front, and if they can take this into the season they are strong as well - even if probably the big teams will cut that advantage away with time. McLaren at the moment looks pretty bad."