“It’s going to happen. All the teams are happy. The whole reason for this is I am fed up with people talking about there being no overtaking.”
Those were the words of Bernie Ecclestone ahead of the 2009 Formula 1 season, in which he wanted to introduce a new way of deciding who won the championships.
Inspired by the Olympics (more specifically the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing) Ecclestone’s idea was to award the title to the driver with the most wins.
The top three in a race would be awarded gold, silver and bronze medals akin to the Olympics.
The driver with the most race wins and thus gold medals would be crowned champion, regardless of their other finishes.
The idea was to promote more overtaking and to encourage drivers to push for race victories rather than settle for second place and ‘think about the championship.’
Despite Ecclestone believing the teams were ‘happy’ with the proposal, it never came to pass, but it hasn’t stopped us from looking back at how history would have changed had Formula 1 ran the system from its inception.
F1 seasons which would have had different champions under the medal system;
| Year |
Champion (According to points system used) |
Champion (according to medal system) |
| 2016 |
Nico Rosberg |
Lewis Hamilton |
| 2008 |
Lewis Hamilton |
Felipe Massa |
| 1989 |
Alain Prost |
Ayrton Senna |
| 1987 |
Nelson Piquet |
Nigel Mansell |
| 1986 |
Alain Prost |
Nigel Mansell |
| 1984 |
Niki Lauda |
Alain Prost |
| 1983 |
Nelson Piquet |
Alain Prost |
| 1982 |
Keke Rosberg |
Didier Pironi |
| 1981 |
Nelson Piquet |
Alain Prost |
| 1979 |
Jody Scheckter |
Alan Jones |
| 1977 |
Niki Lauda |
Mario Andretti |
| 1967 |
Denny Hulme |
Jim Clark |
| 1964 |
John Surtees |
Jim Clark |
| 1958 |
Mike Hawthorn |
Stirling Moss |
Interesting changes;
- The destiny of the championship would have changed 14 times under the medal system.
- In 2010, Sebastian Vettel would have still won the title, but only on countback of fourth places, after scoring the same amount of first, second and third places as Fernando Alonso.
- Nelson Piquet loses all three of his titles to the system despite scoring the most points in 1981, 83 and 87.
- Alain Prost would have lost two of his titles with McLaren but gained one in his first year in 1984 and two prior to that with Renault.
- Both Ayrton Senna and Jim Clark would be upgraded to four-time champions.
- Ironically, Brabham (under Ecclestone) would have lost all its titles.
- Stirling Moss would have won the 1958 championship and this would hand the title of ‘most wins without an F1 championship to David Coulthard (13).
- Niki Lauda would be a one-time champion, while Nigel Mansell would have three titles to his name.
Changes to GP2/Formula 2 championship winners:
| Year |
Champion (According to points system used)
|
Champion (according to medal system) |
| 2016 |
Pierre Gasly |
Antonio Giovinazzi |
| 2013 |
Fabio Leimer |
Sam Bird |
Changes to GP3 championship winners:
| Year |
Champion (According to points system used)
|
Champion (according to medal system) |
| 2016 |
Charles Leclerc |
Alexander Albon |
| 2015 |
Esteban Ocon |
Luca Ghiotto |
| 2014 |
Alex Lynn |
Dean Stoneman |
| 2012 |
Mitch Evans |
Antonio Felix da Costa |
