One of the things I forgot to mention in my post on Bernie's idea for medals rather than points was the sheer irrelevance of the matter at this moment in time. With enormous difficulties facing F1 in the near future, to be playing with ideas like a change to the points system seems like fiddling while Rome burns.
Gilles Villeneuve Circuit, Montreal
Take the latest trend for GP venues to be dropping out, for instance. As I have mentioned elsewhere, if Bernie cannot maintain the number of GPs on the calendar, his income dwindles and it becomes impossible for CVC to meet its loan repayments. Every GP that drops out means that another has to be found willing to pay the price and it takes time to get new ones up and running at the required standard.
Although all hope has not quite gone for the Canadian GP, there being some rumors that the manufacturer teams might step in to meet the shortfall in payments, it is unlikely that we will see it back on the 2009 calendar. France has definitely gone and we are down to seventeen races, therefore. Donington is supposed to be ready by 2010 but Bernie threatens to do away with the British GP completely if it is not. And I would not bet on it ever hosting the race - apart from the delays in planning permission, the problem of funding has still not been solved.
We are down to sixteen, the French race looking increasingly unlikely for the foreseeable future, now that Disneyland has bowed out, and Bernie must hope that India manages to get a GP venue sorted out quickly. The biggest shock was the sudden doubtful noises coming from China, however. Shanghai has become fed up with paying out such enormous sums for a GP that fails to catch the interest of its population and is talking about putting an end to it. Notice how that had Bernie sitting up and taking notice; he has been counting on Asia to pull him through the developing mess and now it seems he cannot rely even on that.
Hockenheim, Melbourne and Hungary have all had their gripes recently and this, surely must be Bernie's biggest headache of the moment, not the minor detail of how the championship is awarded. If there are no races to be won, it will not matter whether points or medals are handed out - F1 will be a bankrupt mess. It really is time that Ecclestone stopped interfering with silly ideas for the "improvement of the show" and worked harder at his primary function: keeping sufficient races on the calendar to ensure that the sport remains viable.
That will require a revolution in his business methods, however. From the Canadian negotiations, it is clear that the old stance of "This is how much I want and I don't care where it comes from" no longer works. This time it is Bernie rushing around, telling everyone that there is still a chance of the Montreal GP surviving - the organizers and politicians have made their final offer and given up in the face of Bernie's inflexibility.
And that is the problem - inflexibility. As an old fart myself, I know how age brings inflexible difficulties, the mornings especially being times of creaking joints and aching bones. Bernie has well over a decade on me and it is inevitable that his thinking will be along the same old lines that have brought him success in the past. To be asking that he change the way he does things is probably too much at this stage and he will stay his immutable self while F1 cracks and falls about him. It is not just the venues that are dwindling, after all - the number of teams looks set to drop as well, with no obvious replacements visible. All this while Max sits in his ivory tower devising ever more ridiculous futures for the sport, turning it into something no one will want to watch anyway.
If Bernie is that determined not to retire until he breathes his last, I suppose I must hope that he sees the light and becomes more reasonable before things progress beyond redemption. For the sake of F1, it must happen...