Ecclestone's golden shot

Nov 26 2008

Bernie Ecclestone believes his controversial medal system to decide the Formula One world drivers' championship will be introduced next year.

Speaking at the announcement of a technology partnership between F1 and Korean electronics giant LG in London on Wednesday, Ecclestone said he expects his plan to be ratified at the next FIA World Motorsport Council meeting in December.

"It's going to happen," said Ecclestone. "All the teams are happy."

He added: "The whole reason for this was that I was fed up with people talking about no overtaking. The reason there's no overtaking is nothing to do with the circuit or the people involved, it's to do with the drivers not needing to overtake.

"If you are in the lead and I'm second, I'm not going to take a chance and risk falling off the road or doing something silly to get two more points.

"If I need to do it to win a gold medal, because the most medals win the world championship, I'm going to do that. I will overtake you."

Ecclestone believes his system will bring about a more exciting world championship next season.

Under the proposals, Felipe Massa rather than Lewis Hamilton would have won this year's title with six race victories to Hamilton's five.

Ecclestone added on www.autosport.com: "This year, we saw on a number of occasions Lewis not overtaking Massa for that reason. It's just not on that someone can win the world championship without winning a race."