Final GP point scoring to become a lotto draw?

Under normal circumstances we would already be calculating the odds on who should be the new champion – but this year’s a little different.

It’s different due to the brainchild of F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone to make the run down to the championship more exciting by introducing double points for the last race at Abu Dhabi.

If you remember, Ecclestone wanted to offer the same incentive for the final three races.

Thankfully that never happened, but I am still mystified as to how he managed to get the teams to agree to this totally harebrained scheme.

As it happens, the title is being fought out between team-mates – I use the term reservedly – Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg of Mercedes.

With the team having already wrapped up the 2014 constructors title, it all becomes a bit academic – unless you are one of those protagonists, or a fan of either.

Double points might just as well be a roll of the dice when deciding a worthy champion and that, in my humble opinion, is no way to make that decision.

Drivers fight for every point by pushing the limits in all races. Sometimes a poor finish or a non-finish will create even more exciting racing when a competitor has to really dig deep to make up the deficit to hold on to a slender lead.

Doubling the points could well negate these efforts as the results become a bit of a lotto.

If it is such a great idea, I wonder why Ecclestone has admitted it may be dropped at the end of this season. He was quoted as saying: “I wanted it to be for the last three races, but everyone said I was mad, so we won’t do it.

“As for keeping it for the last race, I don’t know. Probably not. We can’t yet see whether it has worked.”

Let us not forget this idea came from the same mind that wanted to introduce water sprinklers on certain sections of tracks to create more excitement. In the words of Monty Python: “Say no more.”

Still with Ecclestone: perhaps you read of his recent visit to the latest venue on the F1 map, the newly designed street circuit that will host the Baku European Grand Prix in 2016.

Not sure about Baku? It is the largest city and capital of Azerbaijan and also the largest city on the Caspian Sea.

It is also the lowest-lying national capital in the world, at 29 metres below sea level.

One really good high tide and Ecclestone could find that extra excitement without the need or cost of a sprinkler system.

Apparently we have another bid for a second American event.

This time it is Las Vegas that wants to get back on the scene, according to Ecclestone.

This time it would be on “The Strip”, rather than the previous two in the early eighties, when it was run around the car park of Caesars Palace casino – and was not the most popular event on the calendar.

With the twice-stalled attempts at a New York Grand Prix, perhaps the entertainment capital of the USA could just pull it off, but I’m not holding my breath.

With Mexico back for next season and Baku scheduled for the following year that would mean a 21-race season in 2016, so could LA make it 22?

Ecclestone seems to believe it would not be a problem, but the teams have had different ideas in the past, seeing logistics and staff as a problem.

F1 personnel have a very long and arduous year and it would be unfair to expect them to carry more of the workload. The only answer would be to increase the number of staff.

But that would mean greater expenditure for the teams – rather strange at a time when everyone is supposedly cutting costs and endeavouring to introduce a cost cap – once again making life even more difficult for the so-called minnows at the rear of the field.