Pickle’s Perspective

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula 1 | F1 wins will decide world title.

My first reaction is YIKES!

With the new rules, how many races you win will determine who wins the title.  Points will only matter for tie situations.   Although I think this idea is interesting, I fear that this year we will see a severe injury or fatality due to this rule.

I remember my first motocross race.  When on a race track, anything before the start of the race is forgotten.  Focus becomes very concentrated with one goal in mind; win.  As a racer gains more experience, the focus starts to shift.  Taking a second place, or even lower today, can actually help your  season standing based on points.  Risking it all for a win, when the risk of a DNF are high is a stupid move, because scoring partial points is better than none.

In an all or nothing scenario, a racer’s desire for the coveted #1 on the front of the vehicle can easily supercede the thought of personal safety.  We’ve seen examples of similar scenarios in the past.  For example, Nurnburgring 2005, In the lead with 2 laps remaining and a severely flat spotted tire, Kimi Raikkonen, decided to continue racing rather than coming in for a pit stop.  A pit stop would have cost Kimi the race, and put him into 3rd place.  Instead Kimi was hungry for the win.  Watch the video on youtube to see how it unfolds.  Had the season unfolded the same way, but had Kimi gotten a 3rd place that day, he would have been the season champ.

In the above example, Kimi was lucky.  There was no hard barrier near him, nor were there any other cars near him.  Scenarios like this will be more common in 2009, and I can only hope that it doesn’t end in serious injury.