Bernie up the ante in Medal System for 2009

Bernie Ecclestone insists that his radical idea of Olympic-style medals in Formula 1 will be in place by the 2009 season.... But Eddie Jordan doesn't think so...
Ecclestone reiterated on Wednesday that drivers will be racing for gold, silver and bronze medals instead of points in Melbourne in March and that next year�s title will go to the driver with the most wins.
The F1 supremo reckons his idea will encourage overtaking, as only wins will determine the championship and there won�t be any benefit in driving conservatively to second or third place.
Ecclestone again claimed he has all the teams behind him on this issue, meaning the change could be ratified by the FIA at the next World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) meeting in December.

"It's going to happen," The Associated Press reported Ecclestone as saying at a press conference in London.
"All the teams are happy.
�The reason this happens is that I get fed up with people talking about no overtaking.
"It's just not on that someone can win the world championship without trying to win the race."

The current ranking system that offers points from first to eighth place was introduced in 2003 after Michael Schumacher dominated the previous year's championship, taking the crown with six races remaining at the French Grand Prix.
In the first season under the current 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 classification, Kimi Raikkonen took the title fight down to the final round with Schumacher, despite only winning one race to the German�s six.
Mike Hawthorn in 1958 and Keke Rosberg in 1982 are the only two drivers to have won a Formula 1 championship with a single victory.
But when asked if it seemed fair that someone could finish second at every race in the season and lose the title to a rival who won at six grands prix but crashed out at the rest, Ecclestone replied: "He'll have to try harder next year."

Ex-team boss Eddie Jordan believes Ecclestone has lost his focus on the real issues facing Formula 1, such as cost-cutting.
"I think they [Ecclestone's proposals] are a nonsense,� he told the BBC.
"I can't possibly believe he's thinking straight, especially on this one.
�His focus must be on cost-cutting and nothing else, the rest is just dressing it up. Jordan added that he did not see anything wrong with the current points-scoring system and doubts that Ecclestone had secured the full support of all the teams � especially those racing at the back that of the field.
"The points are necessary," he said.
"I was one of the team principals who advocated the points should go down to eighth place because one point is as important to those teams as a win is to McLaren and Ferrari."
"He is tinkering with something on which he has lost the understanding.
�He thinks only wins matter.
"When Hamilton lost the race in Spa and it was given to Massa, can you believe the controversy that would have created?
"There has not been enough thought put into this and for him to say that it comes with the full approval of all the teams - I'm sorry, I just don't believe it."