Medals system?
Can Bernie Ecclestone really drive this one home? He’s pretty sure he can but most teams think along the same lines as Eddie Jordan, who called the idea “a nonsense”. Ecclestone wants a medals system whereby drivers are given gold, silver or bronze medals, with the person winning the most golds over the course of the season winning the title. He thinks it will encourage overtaking. Others think it will discourage anyone not at the front of the grid.
Where will Jenson end up?
Where will Jenson end up? Will he even get a drive? If a buyer emerges for Honda then it is likely he will stay with the Brackley-based team and drive the car that Ross Brawn has been developing over the past year. If not then he might pitch up at Scuderia Toro Rosso, which wouldn’t be a bad shout given that Ferrari supply their engines and they had a decent year in 2008.
Goodbye Max?
2008 was a busy one for FIA president Max Mosley who became embroiled in a sex scandal, won a £60,000 privacy action against the News of the World as well as an FIA vote of confidence. He finished the year on a high after making peace with Formula One’s teams on the French Riviera. His term of office expires in October 2009 but don’t count on him leaving. He may well run for re-election or engineer a Vladimir Putin-style succession.
The growth of state-funded GPs
Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, China…the list is ever-growing. It’s sad to see more and more races being lost to the traditional heartlands and race tracks of the sport - Magny Cours, Hockenheim, Silverstone - as Ecclestone chases the big state-funded bucks on offer in the Middle and Far East. This will be the first year without a North American race since the 1950s. Ecclestone and Mosley need to address this.
