The FIA has confirmed that it has abandoned its ‘winner takes all’ plan for 2009 and that the existing points system will decide the drivers’ world championship.
The governing body announced last Tuesday that the title would go to the driver who scored the most race wins rather than the most points.
That prompted an angry response from the F1 teams, who objected that the FIA was barred by its own regulations from pushing through changes at such short notice without their unanimous approval.
The FIA subsequently offered to defer the change if the teams were unhappy with it, and has now updated the sporting regulations accordingly.
F1’s commercial impresario Bernie Ecclestone, who has lobbied for a ‘winner takes all’ system throughout the winter, insisted over the weekend that the change would be introduced in 2010.
The regulations state that team agreement is not required for rule changes published “at least 20 days prior to the opening date for entry applications for the championship”.