The validity of the FIA's sweeping and sudden change to the 2009 world championship have been called into question by the F1 Teams Association, meaning that any change to the points structure looks likely to be deferred to 2010.
Monday's announcement that the 2009 championship would be decided on the number of wins as opposed to championship points have been roundly denigrated by the F1 fraternity, with Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton weighing in with criticism in recent days. It now looks like the FIA's decision broke the rules of their own sporting code, and the Formula One Teams' Association have questioned the validity of the new rule. The legal crux is Article 199 of the FIA's International Sporting Code, which states that any change to the regulations of a season at this late a stage must have "the unanimous agreement of all competitors properly entered for the championship or series concerned", which quite clearly this doesn't.
FOTA released a statement today which confirmed their challenge to the controversial rule, and reaffirmed their commitment to work with the FIA to introduce a new scoring system from 2010 onwards.
The statement detailed that the only change to the rules that the FIA could possibly have implemented was FOTA's own proposal (a change of point scoring to 12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1), and that as the FIA rejected this option, no alternative could be allowed.
"Since the change to the scoring system unanimously agreed by the Teams and proposed to FIA did not receive approval of the WMSC, no change can occur in 2009, and the Teams wish to reaffirm their willingness to collaborate with the FIA in order to jointly define a new point system for the 2010 season within a comprehensive set of measures aimed at further stimulating the attractiveness of the F1 Sport."
In response to FOTA's challenge, the FIA seem to have acknowledged that no change can be made.
Responding to FOTA's announcement, the FIA statement read: "On 17 March, the FIA World Motor Sport Council unanimously rejected FOTA's proposed amendment to the points system for the Formula One Drivers' Championship. The 'winner takes all' proposal made by the commercial rights holder (who had been told that the teams were in favour) was then approved.
"If, for any reason, the Formula One teams do not now agree with the new system, its implementation will be deferred until 2010."
With such farcical chaos surrounding the sport, and with the season opener now less than a week away, it looks almost certain that the 2009 season will use the normal 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 point scoring system, and will controversially award the drivers championship to the driver with the most points.
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