Bernie: 'Winner takes all' will happen

Bernie Ecclestone has insisted that the FIA's offer to defer the introduction of the new championship system does not mean the 'winner takes all' plan has been ditched.

Just three days after the World Motor Sport Council voted unanimously to change the scoring scheme so that the driver with most race wins automatically became champion, the FIA back-tracked when the Formula One Teams' Association questioned whether the Formula 1 rules allowed for such a change so close to the season without their agreement.

But Ecclestone says this shouldn't be taken as sign that his proposal is dead, as he fully expects it to be inserted into the 2010 rules.

Team agreement is not required for rule changes published "at least 20 days prior to the opening date for entry applications for the championship" according to the regulations.

"It will be supported by the FIA and it will be in the regulations, so when the people enter the championship, that's what the regulation will be," Ecclestone told the BBC.

"To make any changes when the entries have closed, you have to get a unanimous agreement between all the people that have entered, and it would appear that some of the teams didn't like the idea."

He remains bemused by the uproar over the system, which is a modification of the medals scheme that he proposed in 2008.

"If you go to the athletics and look at the 100m you're not looking at the guy that's second, you're looking at the winner," said Ecclestone.

"The whole idea is nothing to do with winning the world championship, the idea was to make sure people raced in every race to win, not to be second or third and collect points."

Bernie added that he did not blame the drivers for accepting second places under the scoring system now set to remain in place for 2008, having earlier this week said that world champion Lewis Hamilton had hung back and settled for safe podiums on several occasions last season.

"Lewis last year was second in a couple of races he could easily have won, and he was quite right in being second," said Ecclestone.

"If I'd have been his team manager I'd have been complaining if he'd been racing to win, in case there was a problem in the car or he fell off the road."

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