3 replies to this topic

[Walrus]

In what way they counted points in `66 season?
I know how they counted them in `65 and `67 so if the system was the same as either of those years no further explanatinons needed...

[Ray Bell]

Graham Howard's series review on page 26 of Racing Car News, December, 1966, says:

Best five performances count for final total.
Brabham scored 45 points (4x first, 1 x second, 1 x 4th), net total 42.

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[Mila]

I had no idea that this BB was here! so I (stupidly) started a thread at Readers Comments that, I suppose, belongs here. your question has already been answered, Walrus, but you may find it interesting any way. so I'll copy my magnum opus here:

the F1 WDC has moved in mysterious ways--none more bizarre how the point tally has worked. check this out:

from 1950 to 1953, only a driver's best 4 scores were applied to the WDC. for these seasons, there were between 7 and 9 races per season that counted toward the WDC.

from 1954 to 1957, and for 1959, 1961, 1962, and 1966, only the best 5. for these seasons, there were between 7 and 9 races per season that counted toward the WDC.

for 1958, 1960, and from 1963 to 1965, only the best 6. for these seasons, there were between 10 and 11 races per season that counted toward the WDC.

then, it gets complicated:

from 1967 to 1978, a GP season was divided in half (or, as close to half as possible). if a driver were to score points in all the rounds of a half season, then his lowest score from that half season would be dropped. for example, in 1970, the best 6 scores from the first 7 races applied, as did the 5 best from the remaining 6 races.

then it gets weird:

for 1979, only the best 4 scores from the first 7 races counted, and from the last 8 races, only 4 scores again. so at the end of 1979, most of the drivers at the top of the points table--Scheckter, Villeneuve, Jones, Regazzoni, Depailler--lost points toward the WDC because of this system, but none of these drivers lost a position in the WDC.

for 1980, a season with 14 rounds, it's the best 5 scores from each half.
then sanity prevails (sort of):

from 1981 to 1991, a driver's best 11 scores counted toward the WDC. for these seasons, there were generally 16 rounds per season.

finally:

from 1992 to the present, all points scored are applied to the WDC.

remarkably, only two WDC contenders were "ripped off" by the various drop-the-low-scores systems:

Prost, in 1988, scored a total of 105 points; however, three 2nd places were dropped, so his WDC total of 87 was below the 90 of Senna, who dropped 4 point himself. (indeed, quite the year for the Mclaren boys!)

the other driver was Graham Hill. in 1964, Hill, who had to drop the 2 points from his 5th place in the Belgium GP, finished the season 1 point behind WDC John Surtees. seeing how the season ended for Hill, he likely had a lot to complain about. at the last round in Mexico, Hill, on his way the winning the WDC, was "removed" from the race by the teammate of Surtees, Lorenzo Bandini. it's my understanding that the driver fraternity was very upset with Bandini--little did they know what the future held for driver etiquette!

so, any explanations for the various WDC points systems? can we say that it worked appropriately in 1988, in favor of Senna, since the Brazilian seemed to have the measure of his teammate? after all, seeing that Prost indeed scored (well) in more than 11 rounds, who else was going to be his title combatant other than a driver in an equally superior car?

[Falcadore]

Another driver who was ripped off, for political reasons though, was Carlos Reutemann who lost the 1981 World Championship by only a few points after having the 1981 South African Grand Prix, which he won, removed from the world championship.