One of the major talking points in the run-up to this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix has been the confusion over how the drivers’ title will be decided this year. We talked exclusively to 1996 World Champion Damon Hill about his thoughts on the proposed, but now discarded, ‘winner takes all’ system.

The background

Ten days before the start of the season, the FIA, the motor racing’s governing body, announced that it was ignoring a proposal from the F1 teams to award more points for a win, and instead adopting a ‘winner takes all’ system as put forward by Bernie Ecclestone, for the 2009 season.

Damon Hill. Former World Champion no less

Under this scheme, the driver who won the most Grands Prix would be crowned champion, regardless of how many points he had. The F1 teams countered by pointing out that the FIA had broken its own rules by announcing such a change so close to the start of the season without their unanimous support. The FIA have subsequently done a u-turn and said we’ll stick to the old system after all..

Ready, get set....hang on a sec!

Damon’s thoughts

So what did Damon feel about a change to the points rules?

“I was under the impression that the change of rules last time was to ensure the championship wasn’t decided before the last race, because there was some complaint of the championship not going the full distance,” he said, referring to the last time the number of points awarded was revised a few years ago.

“Now it’s possible that that could happen with this new set of regulations. But I honestly think it’s probably the right move to award the championship to the guy who’s won the most races. “I don’t think you can get a perfect system,” he continued, “because I think it’s quite possible that a guy could have been leading lots of races and have mechanical problems and manage to get points. Why should he be penalised for something that wasn’t his problem? But, in principle, I’d say it’s right for the guy who wins most Grands Prix to be champion.”

The most wins are the way to go - are you sure about that Damon?

Fair comment, but is it right to be messing with the rules so close to the start of the new season?

“It’s a bit of a show, isn’t it?,” he laughed. “It’s a sport and it’s a show and there’s a little bit of politics at the moment going on between the teams and the FIA. The FIA should be running the show and I think they’re showing that they do. “I think it’s important that there is an authority that runs the sport in the right way,” he added, “but I do think also that there’s a rightful claim to the sport from the teams as well, because the teams have had investments in this sport for a very long time. It would be nice to see them all sit round the table and come up with a solution that they all approve, but as I understand it it becomes all quite complicated and again politics comes into it.“

Bit of a show for everyone concerned

And what are his thoughts for the season ahead, particularly the speed in testing of the new Brawn car?

“It was always going to be interesting to see what Ross Brawn could do with what was at Brackley [the old Honda team’s headquarters] and I think it was bound to be a good car,” he replied. “I think he’s got a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience and this car was going to be a front-running car, potentially, anyway. The loss of Honda is going to make it very difficult to maintain a front-running position, I would say, during the season, unless they get sponsorship. So they could be flattering themselves a little bit, but you can’t flatter yourself unless there’s the basis of a very good car there in the first place.”

Brawn are flying in preseason testing

And his tip for the 2009 title?

“I honestly don’t know. Maybe this could be Massa’s year, I don’t know.”