Well the revised rules for next year are out - well I went
through some of the points and was impressed by the new point sytem - giving points to the first eight racers and in the pattern 10, 8, 6, 5,4,3,2,1 - well I guess that should tighten things, no matter how strong is a particular team is.
This is termed as the most radical changes in the sport in the last 52 years
Qualifying sessions are two staged now - one on friday , the other on saturday - and to all those maclaren and williams fans - there is more good news - 'no team orders' and the tyre company can bring two set of tyres for every contracted team
http://www.espnstar.com/jsp/cda/formula1/aid=380305formula1_newsdetail.html

FERRARI

Thanks, Ace! I printed the page for my hubby....I'm sure he already knows, anyway, Ferrari fan that he is! Thanks!

Just for fun, I thought I'd compare the actual 2002 driver standings with what they would be had the new points system been in use this year:

ACTUAL 2002 RESULTS

SCHUMACHER, Michael FERRARI 144
BARRICHELLO, Rubens FERRARI 77
MONTOYA, Juan Pablo WILLIAMS 50
SCHUMACHER, Ralf WILLIAMS 42
COULTHARD, David McLAREN 41
RAIKKONEN, Kimi McLAREN 24
BUTTON, Jenson RENAULT 14
TRULLI, Jarno RENAULT 9
IRVINE, Eddie JAGUAR 8
HEIDFELD, Nick SAUBER 7
FISICHELLA, Giancarlo JORDAN 7
VILLENEUVE, Jacques BAR 4
MASSA, Felipe SAUBER 4
PANIS, Olivier BAR 3
SATO, Takuma JORDAN 2
SALO, Mika TOYOTA 2
WEBBER, Mark MINARDI 2
FRENTZEN, Heinz-Harald ARROWS 2


NEW SYSTEM RESULTS (Based on 2002 season)

SCHUMACHER, Michael FERRARI 156
BARRICHELLO, Rubens FERRARI 93
MONTOYA, Juan Pablo WILLIAMS 74
COULTHARD, David McLAREN 63
SCHUMACHER, Ralf WILLIAMS 63
RAIKKONEN, Kimi McLAREN 36
BUTTON, Jenson RENAULT 31
HEIDFELD, Nick SAUBER 22
FISICHELLA, Giancarlo JORDAN 20
TRULLI, Jarno RENAULT 19
IRVINE, Eddie JAGUAR 16
MASSA, Felipe SAUBER 15
VILLENEUVE, Jacques BAR 14
SALO, Mika TOYOTA 10
PANIS, Olivier BAR 8
FRENTZEN, Heinz-Harald ARROWS 6
SATO, Takuma JORDAN 5
WEBBER, Mark MINARDI 5
McNISH, Allan TOYOTA 3
DE LA ROSA, Pedro JAGUAR 2
YOONG, Alex MINARDI 2

The only changes near the top are that the Ferraris score even more points, and Coulthard and Ralf now tie for fourth.

Some of the minor players change places, and a few more drivers get points. Let's hope that the other changes announced have a more significant impact!

Old Bob was most impressed with your information, Ace, and spanishliz, I printed off the results of your efforts for him, too! Thanks! He'll be most interested.

Liz - that's amazing - well well - just when I thought they made it fair, you find it doesn't help.

The Tifosi's (including me!) wouldn't mind that....

But I also think most of the competitors actually lost all motivation after Lord Schumi won the championship and indirectly this enabled Barrichello to rake in those extra points.

One more good thing I believe is that it will help solve some of the monetary problems for some of the lesser teams - because the FIA has a policy of rewarding teams which get points - that 2 million may be petty change for Ferrari, but it is a real big deal to the Minardi's, Orange's etc.

Just one more thing that is troubling my mind :

Everyone complains of Ferrari dominance but are these people doing enough to gain ground or beat Ferrari?
Ferrari puts in so much of money to its F1 team even when it or Fiat (88% stock - correct me if I am wrong) is not doing so well - that to me shows the dedication and the importance they attach to the F1.
on the other hand, I don't believe Merc's and Bmw's are faring that badly in the real world and are bigger companies than Ferrari, yet they complain of Ferrari's this and that....
Loser's will always cry, Ferrari didn't cry when Maclarens were dominating the scene in 98 and 99 - they took the battle to them. No wonder FERRARI is loved so much!!!