Maybe now we will see some racing?

The Formula 1 world championship will this year, for the first time ever, be decided on who wins the most races. Only if there is a tie at the end of the season will second place be worth anything! Finally these drivers will have to go out and do what they are paid for and actually race the cars.

There will be no point backing off and settling for second or third place just to get points. There will be no more taking it easy to preserve the engine for the next race. It is now win or nothing.

Maybe now at last we will actually get to see some racing, assuming the BBC don't break off with two laps to go to show the cricket. Well that is the theory anyway but will it actually produce close racing?

If I was an F1 team manager who had spent £250 million on my cars as soon as I realised that they were not going to win and were actually driving round and round the track for no reason whatsover I would just pull them in the pits, save the fuel and tyre costs, negate the risk of them crashing or blowing up expensive engines and wait until the next race. If I found they were off the pace in qualifying I might even not start the race at all.

So it's a bold move. It could result in better racing. It could also make it, quite literally, pointless.