MPH: Mark Hughes on...

Medals instead of points to decide a championship? This seems to be developing into a serious proposal rather than just a throwaway line from Bernie Ecclestone.

Some have labelled the idea ludicrous and flippant but there is a degree of purist merit in the driver who wins the most races automatically being world champion.

Let's take a look at how a medal system might have worked through F1 history.

2008

The medal system would still have given us a final-round title decider, with Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton on five golds apiece. As with the actual points system, however, it was really a false showdown if you believed Hamilton's Spa penalty was unjustified. Without it, Hamilton would have entered the final round with six golds, Massa four, and Lewis would therefore have clinched the title with his victory in China.

The points system would have done the same. Apply the medal system in hindsight and Massa would be the champion thanks to his Brazil gold. But had Hamilton gone to Interlagos knowing he had to win to take the title, he wouldn't have tried to finish fifth.

2007

We would again have had the same three-way title showdown in Brazil as the points system gave us. Kimi Raikkonen would have been coming in with five golds, but with Fernando Alonso and Hamilton in positions to equal that with four apiece. Had one of them managed to do that, it would then have gone to countdowns on silvers. If we just retrospectively apply the medal system on what actually unfolded in Brazil, the title would still have been Kimi's, with six golds.

2006

Again, the same scenario as the points tally. Alonso and Michael Schumacher would have entered the Brazil finale on seven golds apiece. Neither of them won the race and Alonso would have been champion on account of seven silvers to Michael's four.

2005

This would have gone to the wire in China, with Alonso and Raikkonen coming in on six and seven golds respectively, whereas the points system decided it in Alonso's favour three races early. Alonso would have won it with his victory in Shanghai on account of equalling Kimi's seven golds and beating his tally of silvers - five-three.

Ripping up the form book

Looking at the last four seasons, you can see the appeal of the medal system. It would not have fundamentally altered who the main contenders were, but it would have required a full-on, flat-out race for victory for each of the contenders in that final round, with no room for a more tactical approach and in 2005 it would have stretched out the contest longer.

Hamilton would not have been able to 'drive for fifth' this year and he may well have driven Interlagos 2007 very differently, too, had it been absolutely necessary to win. However, the last four years have all been very closely-fought affairs, with two teams using cars pretty much the equal of each other.

What happens in a dominant year, such as 2004? A season of Ferrari/Schumacher dominance, they tucked the title away as early as Spa, with four races left. However, had we been running with the medal system, Schuey's title would have been confirmed at the half-way point. France was his ninth win of the year and there were only eight races left.

Applying the medal system from the start of the championship would have made some significant differences. Stirling Moss, not Mike Hawthorn, would have been the first British world champion, in 1958. John Surtees would have been denied his 1964 title, which would have gone instead to Jim Clark. Clark would have benefitted again in 1967, giving the Scot four titles. Mario Andretti, and not Niki Lauda, would have won in 1977, Alan Jones would have taken the first of two titles in 1979 at the expense of Jody Scheckter.

Alain Prost would have taken the first of five titles in 1981 - and Nelson Piquet would never have been a world champion! Lauda would have only won once (in 1975), Nigel Mansell would be a triple champion (1986, 1987 and 1992), Ayrton Senna a four-time champ (adding the 1989 crown to his tally).

That 1989 season is the last time a medal system would have produced a different outcome - until this year. The extra point for a win since 1991 seems to have achieved much the same effect as a medal system. Clearly there are pros and cons to a medal system, but it wouldn't be without merit.

      Actual champs    Medal champs
1958  Hawthorn         Moss
1964  Surtees          Clark
1967  Hulme            Clark
1977  Lauda            Andretti
1979  Scheckter        Jones
1981  Piquet           Prost
1982* Rosberg          Watson
1983  Piquet           Prost
1984  Lauda            Prost
1986  Prost            Mansell
1987  Piquet           Mansell
1989  Prost            Senna

*Points would have been needed as a decider.