Jordan slams Bernie medals plan
Eurosport - Wed, 26 Nov 22:11:00 2008
Former team boss Eddie Jordan has poured cold water on Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone's plans to have the drivers' World Championship decided by gold medals rather than points.
"I think they are a nonsense," Jordan told the BBC. "I can't possibly believe he's thinking straight, especially on this one.
"His focus must be on cost-cutting and nothing else. The rest is just dressing it up."
Ecclestone has said he wants the title won by the driver who wins most races to make the sport more exciting and prevent a repeat of this year's situation, where McLaren's Lewis Hamilton needed only to finish fifth in Brazil to be champion.
Hamilton did what was necessary - but only just - at Interlagos, beating Ferrari's Felipe Massa by a single point although the Brazilian won six races to the Briton's five victories.
Under Ecclestone's Olympic-style plan, the top three in each race would get gold, silver and bronze medals. Points would count only towards the constructors' standings and to decide overall rankings.
The 78-year-old Briton has now returned to the theme, telling a news conference: "It's going to happen. All the teams are happy, we're happy and the (governing) FIA are happy.
"The whole reason for this was that I get fed up with people talking about no overtaking. The reason there is no overtaking is nothing to do with the circuits, very little to do with the cars, it's that drivers don't need to overtake.
"If you are in the lead and I'm second, I'm not going to take a chance maybe falling off the road and doing something silly to get two (more) points.
"But if I now need to get gold medals because the most gold medals win the championship, then I will overtake you, I promise. And that's what will happen.
"This year, on a number of occasions, Lewis didn't bother to overtake Massa for that reason. And I wouldn't. If he had driven for me and tried and made a mistake, I would have complained.
"It's just not on that someone can win the World Championship without winning a race."
Jordan said however that points were of vital importance to teams and drivers further down the pecking order and trying to get noticed.
"One point is as important to those teams as a win is to McLaren and Ferrari," he said. "He is tinkering with something on which he has lost the understanding. He thinks only wins matter.
"When Hamilton lost the race in Spa and it was given to Massa, can you believe the controversy that would have created?
"There has not been enough thought put into this and for him to say that it comes with the full approval of all the teams - I'm sorry, I just don't believe it."
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Comment 59 - 78 of 78
It,s time Bernie is put out to grass before F1 becomes an utter farce run by senile pentioners.!
Ok,Bernie is a complete senile plonker !
He is a complete and utter senile @#$% !
Just say NO.
Worst idea ever! Sport is littered with examples of consistancy and intelligence being rated higher than what could be seen as a lucky win.
Can you imagine of Massa had won this year because of the Spa incident - that would have been awful!
I am totally with you Eddie, the medals is complete nonsense.
It kills off the traditional way of awarding the most consistent F1 driver the haul of points accumulated over a sequence of races rather than now to be decided in the fact of having the fastest car and going for the win. What risks are we talking about??
F1 is just finished. BE step out of F1 for the good of the fans who love the sport.
Chris T, there are no shortage of pretend F1 drivers on here who imagine they earn millions,LOL!
Nice one Felipe!
Now post it on every blog 10 times a day over the next 4 weeks.
Nice one Felipe!
Congratulations to Lewis the rightful Champion of 2008, I tried my best but in the end my best wasn't good enough.
I'm sorry that my good friend Timo is telling such outrageous lies I think he feels more hurt than I do because he tried so hard to help me win by staying out on those worn dry tyres and it nearly paid off, but as the rain got heavier he couldn't keep it on the racing line.
We are having a bit of trouble with the Kers system on our car so I'm told, so alot of work has got to be done between now and March, but I will try and keep you all posted.
TTFN
Johnny j.
Formula 1 isn't racist...SOME people are!
Sorry about the (removed) repeated post guys!
I couldn't control myself. That half wit marnio / timo glock / ollyboy/ Jbolan is geting just TOO boring!
The same mindless drivel week after week. Copy paste copy paste. Ahhhh!
Formula 1 = RACIST
Suddenly Bernie decides that the points method is wrong? Odd. They have been using it for years. But Bernie needs to acknowledge that his greed has killed off: The US Grand Prix, The Canadian GP, The French GP and even --almost - the British GP -- as he tries to get more and more money -- in the middle of a world recession.
Sorry Bernie -- time to retire. You were great, once; we acknowledge that. Now step aside.
ecclestone dictator = hitler
What was that Chris,would you mind repeating?
MAKES ME LAUGH ALL YOU DIE HARD WANNABE HAMILTON FANS YOU SEEM TO IGNORE A MAJOR FACTOR WHEN SHOUTING THE ODDS THAT HAMMY SHOULD OF WON THE TITLE LAST YEAR...
WAS HES DIRTY MCLAREN TEAM BANNED FROM B4 THE END OF THE CHAMPIONSHIPLAST YEAR,,
YES THEY WERE,, QUESTION,,,HOW CAN ANY GIVEN DRIVER WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP WHEN THE TEAM HE DRIVES FOR ARE EXCLUDED FROM THE COMPETITION,,,THERE NO ANSWER IS THERE HAMMY FANS,, MCLAREN GOT CAUGHT OUT BIG TIME THATS WHY THEY CARRY THE TAG OF DIRTY CHEATING @#$%,,COUPLED WITH A @#$% LIKE HAMILTON WHO DRIVES LIKE A DONKEY AT BEST OF TIMES
ERRATIC MONTOYA 2 BUT WORSE AND ALSO THE MOST UNGENTLEMEN LIKE DRIVER TO EVER DRIVE ON F1 CIRCUIT,,, MAKE NO MISTAKE HAMILTON HAS RACED AROUND 35 GRAND PRIXS ,,ENGINE FAILURES......0 THINK OF MASSA DURING SEASON UNTOLD BAD LUCK WITH ENGINE AND RELIABILITY,,SO WHEN YOU NEXT THINK LEWIS HAS BEEN CHEATED OF POINTS BY STEWARDS ETC WEIGH UP THE FACT THAT IN TERMS OF RELIABILITY HE HAD IT SO GOOD,, IN FACT HAD HE HAD HES FAIR SHARE THE TITLE WOULD OF BEEN SO MUCH CLOSER PROBABLY MASSA WINNING RATHER THAN ME GETTING IT IN THE NECK ALL THE TIME I REALLY WISH I HADNT LOST ALL THOSE SECONDS BUT THE OFFER FROM DIRTY MCLAREN WAS TOO GOOD TO REFUSE,,,
CANT WAIT TO DRIVE ALONG SIDE HAMMY NEXT SEASON
I despair of some of the comments on here. There are a few knowledgable people that come on here and try and discuss F1 properlyt and objectively, whilst the rest just fill discussion up with the same old nonsense. Stick to the discussion in hand , or don't post.
Bernie is truly wrong on the medal idea, if it goes through, we'll see more desperate moves and more crashes, someone may get hurt. I really doubt he has the agreement of the teams for this.
I have to agree with most other contributors. He has at last gone off his rocker. You could easily find one driver winning ssveral of the first races in the year. We could then face a situation where the title has been won, virtually by mid season. It's the points that need shaking up, plus drivers are reticent to overtake because the slightest mis-judgement and officials come down like a ton of bricks. Please, someone, let's have a big shake up, get some new blood and certainly some NEW ideas.
OK I ADMIT I CHEATED!!! SLOWED DOWN MORE THAN I SHOULD,, WAS ONLY CAUSE HAMMY HAD NO OTHER MATES ON CIRCUIT,, FELT SORRY FOR HIM,,THOUGH 18 SECS IN 1 LAP DOES TAKE THE PISS A BIT,, CANT BELIEVE I FELL FOR IT AFTER ALL THE DIRTY CHEATING MCLAREN AND HAMMY HAVE BEEN DOING THIS SEASON AND LAST,, PLEASE PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR THE BIGGEST CHEATING FARCE IN F1 HISTORY........
KIND REGARDS TIMO X
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