If 2008 season results were repeated this year, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa would have the most to gain from any change in Formula One regulations to award the world championship to the driver with the most GP wins.
Yet even he opposes any move to change a system which rewards the most consistent driver with the title.
“I think for sure the winner needs a better advantage from first to second, but not in terms of victory, in terms of points,” Massa said Thursday at the Ferrari team launch ahead of Sunday’s season-opening Australian GP.
But he said FIA’s bid to introduce its new system, then deciding in the wake of backlash from teams and drivers to postpone the changes to 2010, was disruptive.
“One week you have some news, the next everything changes, so I think we need to some consistent rules and consistent working to make things a little more serious,” he said.
“To be honest, when I saw the points coming out from FOTA that increased the difference between first and second (place) ... for me it was the best for Formula One. Then there came out a completely different story a few weeks ago and it was a mess. Nobody liked it to be honest.”
“For sure I’m looking for the victory and the best I can to try and win the race, but it’s important to finish in the points,” he said. “We saw last year the points can be very important at the beginning of the season. At the end as well, but at the beginning it’s always important not to lose points.”
Massa also said he and his team were confident they could make significant progress this year under the old scoring system. “We did a fantastic job in Brazil, we did everything we could, so it was a disappointment to lose the championship by one point. But we learn and we grow. I’m 100 per cent ready, perfectly in shape, and I think that applies to the rest of the team.
“We’ve analysed our mistakes, tried to find solutions, and I think we’re very well prepared. So I go into the season with great confidence and optimism, but also with some caution because test results are not always repeated during race weekends.
“The approach, though, will be the same – maybe we will work even harder to finish most of the races in the points. We saw that one point is enough to lose a championship at the end of the year, so the approach now has to be the same in terms of driving, in terms of working with the team, but trying to be more consistent.”
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