F1: new points system for 2010.

On the face of it, the points system announced by the F1 Commission yesterday looks like a good idea: winners get 25 points, second place gets 20, third place gets 15 and places 4-10 get 10, 8, 6, 5, 3, 2, 1 respectively.

So, to win the Championship, all a driver has to do is win half the races. No change there, then.

But, while the leading teams make hay up at the front, the mid-field will never be in a position to challenge. If a driver comes fourth throughout the season, depending on who beats him and how often, he could still finish in the top two or three under the current rules. Under the new rules, he will never collect more than 170 points (assuming 17 races, as last year).

But if last year's season had been conducted under the new system, Jenson Button would have had 6x25 + 1x15, a total of 165 points after the first six races.

How does that provide incentive for teams to work hard to improve as the season goes by?

Again, last year, Raikkonen would have scored 109 points in the whole season. His actual 48 points accrued over the whole season, with the bulk in the second half gave him sixth place.

Lewis Hamilton would have fared little better, he was out of the top ten eight times including a DQ and two DNFs, and although some podiums including wins would have boosted his total, he under the new system he would have been out of the running: his total for the year would have been just 123.

Remember that the bulk of Button's points came in the first half of the season, with the most in those first seven races. But under the new system he would have scored points in every race except one where he was DNF. And he was on the podium, therefore picking up at least 15 points, on 9 races out of the remaining 16. In fact, out of the races he finished, he was out of the top six on only three occasions.

At the other end of the grid, Adrian Sutil, the man with a "hit me here, Kimi" sign on his car, made the top ten only twice, scoring a total of five points. Under the new scheme, he would not have improved his position - but catching up would have been much more difficult. Had his car been capable of running in the middle of the pack more often, the occasional sparkling performance might have brought him nearer the front. But under the new points, the gap from fourth to podium is so great , and from third to first even more so, that that gap will never be bridged.

So, for next season, the results are already pretty clear: Mercedes (Brawn), McLaren, Ferrari and a potentially rapid Red Bull will dominate. Everyone else, from midfield to back stand no chance of winning the championship because those teams will rotate the top three slots between them, and the next five will also have their names on.

The other teams, from Renault and Sauber to who knows who will be picking up, three points between them, barring DNFs.

Far from opening up the championship and rewarding winners, the new system simply pre-judges the season.

The decision goes before the FIA for a final decision in the next few days. President Jean Todt will endorse it for Ferrari believe they have got a winning car for next year, having scrapped the end of this year's development on the old one. Of the four Mercedes / Brawn are likely to be the team to miss out: Ross Brawn has already telegraphed that the 2010 car will not have the advantage over the field that the 2009 car had.