[Anonymous]

I’m no fan of double points in F1, but I wanted to see how it would “open up the championship” if there were double points awarded for the final three races. I’ve made a list of the last four rounds of each season starting from 2006.

2006
Round 15/18: Italy
1. Alonso – 108
2. Schumacher – 106
3. Massa – 62
4. Fisichella – 57
5. Raikkonen – 57
Massa, Fisichella, and Raikkonen are in contention thanks to double points

Round 16/18: China
1. Alonso (2nd) – 126 (+18)
2. Schumacher (1st) – 126 (+20)
3. Fisichella (3rd) – 69 (+12) (Eliminated)
4. Massa (Ret) – 62 (+0) (Eliminated)
5. Raikkonen (Ret – 57 (+0) (Eliminated)

Round 17/18: Japan
1. Alonso (1st) – 146 (+20)
2. Schumacher (Ret) – 126 (+0)
The deficit Schumacher must overcome to beat Alonso is one win (20 pts), exactly the same scenario as the 2006 season with standard points

Round 18/18: Brazil
1. Alonso (2nd) – 164 (+18) (Champion)
2. Schumacher (4th) – 136 (+10) (Eliminated)

[Anonymous]

2007
Round 14/17: Belgium
1. Hamilton – 97
2. Alonso – 95
3. Raikkonen – 84
4. Massa – 77
5. Heidfeld – 56
With double points, Heidfeld is still in contention to win the championship

Round 15/17: Japan
1. Hamilton (1st) – 117 (+20)
2. Raikkonen (3rd) – 96 (+12)
3. Alonso (Ret) – 95 (+0)
4. Massa (6th) – 83 (+6)
5. Heidfeld (Ret) – 56 (+0) (Eliminated)

Round 16/17: China
1. Hamilton (Ret) – 117 (+0)
2. Raikkonen (1st) – 116 (+20)
3. Alonso (2nd) – 111 (+16)
4. Massa (3rd) – 95 (+12)
Raikkonen takes 2nd from Alonso

Round 17/17: Brazil
1. Raikkonen (1st) – 136 (+20) (Champion)
2. Alonso (3rd) – 123 (+12) (Eliminated)
3. Hamilton (7th) – 121 (+4) (Eliminated)
4. Massa (2nd) – 111 (+16) (Eliminated)
Alonso finishes 2007 as the runner-up

[Anonymous]

2008
Round 15/18: Singapore
1. Hamilton – 84
2. Massa – 77
3. Kubica – 64
4. Raikkonen – 57
5. Heidfeld – 56
6. Kovalainen – 51
7. Alonso – 38
8. Vettel – 27
9. Trulli – 26
That’s right. With 60 points available for the last three races, the list of championship contenders grows to Kovalainen, Alonso, Vettel, and Trulli.

Round 16/18: Japan
1. Hamilton (12th) – 84 (+0)
2. Massa (7th) – 81 (+4)
3. Kubica (2nd) – 80 (+16)
4. Raikkonen (3rd) – 69 (+12)
5. Alonso (1st) – 58 (+20)
6. Heidfeld (9th) – 56 (+0)
7. Kovalainen (Ret) – 51 (+0)
8. Trulli (5th) – 34 (+8) (Eliminated)
9. Vettel (6th) – 33 (+6) (Eliminated)

Round 17/18: Japan
1. Hamilton (1st) – 104 (+20)
2. Massa (2nd) – 97 (+16)
3. Kubica (6th) – 86 (+6)
4. Alonso (4th) – 68 (+10) (Eliminated)
5. Heidfeld (5th) – 64 (+8) (Elminated)

Round 18/18: Brazil
1. Massa (1st) – 117 (+20) (Champion)
2. Hamilton (5th) – 112 (+8) (Eliminated)
3. Kubica (11th) – 86 (+0) (Eliminated)

[Anonymous]

2009
Round 14/17: Singapore
1. Button – 84
2. Barrichello – 69
3. Vettel – 59
4. Webber – 51.5
5. Raikkonen – 40
6. Hamilton – 37
7. Rosberg – 30.5
8. Alonso – 26
9. Glock – 24

Round 15/17: Japan
1. Button (8th) – 86 (+2)
2. Vettel (1st) – 79 (+20)
3. Barrichello (7th) – 73 (+4)
4. Webber (17th) – 51.5 (+0)
5. Raikkonen (4th) – 50 (+10)
6. Hamilton (3rd) – 49 (+12)
7. Rosberg (5th) – 38.5 (+8) (Eliminated)
8. Alonso (10th) – 26 (+0) (Eliminated)
9. Glock (DNS) – 24 (+0) (Eliminated)

Round 16/17: Brazil
1. Button (5th) – 94 (+8)
2. Vettel (4th) – 89 (+10)
3. Barrichello (8th) – 75 (+2)
4. Webber (1st) – 71.5 (+20) (Eliminated)
5. Hamilton (3rd) – 61 (+12) (Eliminated)
6. Raikkonen (6th) – 56 (+6) (Eliminated)
Button does not clinch the title at this race.

Round 17/17: Abu Dhabi
1. Vettel (1st) – 109 (+20) (Champion)
2. Button (3rd) – 106 (+12) (Eliminated)
3. Barrichello (4th) – 85 (+10) (Eliminated)
Vettel takes advantage of Brawn’s struggles to take the championship from Button in the final round.

[Anonymous]

2010
Round 16/19: Japan
1. Webber – 220
2. Alonso – 206
3. Vettel – 206
4. Hamilton – 192
5. Button – 189
6. Massa – 128
7. Rosberg – 122
8. Kubica – 114

Round 17/19: Korea
1. Alonso (1st) – 256 (+50)
2. Hamilton (2nd) – 228 (+36)
3. Webber (Ret) – 220 (+0)
4. Vettel (Ret) – 206 (+0)
5. Button (12th) – 189 (+0)
6. Massa (3rd) – 158 (+30)
7. Kubica (5th) – 124 (+20) (Eliminated)
8. Rosberg (Ret) – 114 (+0) (Eliminated)

Round 18/19: Brazil
1. Alonso (3rd) – 286 (+30)
2. Vettel (1st) – 256 (+50)
3. Webber (2nd) – 256 (+36)
4. Hamilton (4th) – 252 (+24)
5. Button (5th) – 209 (+20) (Eliminated)
6. Massa (15th) – 158 (+0) (Eliminated)
With standard points, Button would be in contention for the final round.

Round 19./19: Abu Dhabi
1. Vettel (1st) – 306 (+50) (Champion)
2. Alonso (7th) – 298 (+12) (Eliminated)
3. Hamilton (2nd) – 288 (+36) (Eliminated)
4. Webber (8th) – 254 (+8) (Eliminated)

[Anonymous]

2011
Round 16/19: Korea
1. Vettel – 349
2. Button – 222
3. Alonso – 212
4. Webber – 209
Vettel does not clinch the championship in Japan due to double points.

Round 17/19: India
1. Vettel (1st) – 399 (+50) (Champion)
2. Button (2nd) – 258 (+36) (Eliminated)
3. Alonso (3rd) – 242 (+30) (Eliminated)
4. Webber (4th) – 233 (24) (Eliminated)
…But he does it two races later.

[Anonymous]

2012
Round 17/20: India
1. Vettel – 240
2. Alonso – 227
3. Raikkonen – 173
4. Webber – 167
5. Hamilton – 165
6. Button – 141
7. Rosberg – 93
8. Grosjean – 90

Round 18/20: Abu Dhabi
1. Vettel (3rd) – 270 (+30)
2. Alonso (2nd) – 263 (+36)
3. Raikkonen (1st) – 223 (+50)
4. Webber (Ret) – 167 (+0) (Eliminated)
5. Hamilton (Ret) – 165 (+0) (Eliminated)
6. Button (4th) – 165 (+24) (Eliminated)
7. Rosberg (Ret) – 93 (+0) (Eliminated)
8. Grosjean (Ret) – 90 (+0) (Eliminated)

Round 19/20: USA
1. Vettel (2nd) – 306 (+36)
2. Alonso (3rd) – 293 (+30)
Raikkonen (6th) – 239 (+16) (Eliminated)
It`s still Alonso vs. Vettel for Brazil.

Round 20/20: Brazil
1. Alonso (2nd) – 329 (+36) (Champion)
2. Vettel (6th) – 322 (+16) (Eliminated)

[Anonymous]

2013
Round 16/19: India
1. Vettel – 322
2. Alonso – 207
3. Raikkonen – 183
Vettel is prevented from clinching the championship in India

Round 17/19: Abu Dhabi
Vettel (1st) – 372 (+50) (Champion)
Alonso (5th) – 227 (+20) (Eliminated)
Raikkonen (Ret) – 183 (+0) (Eliminated)

In conclusion, double points in the last rounds of the championship puts more drivers in contention for the championship, and it prevents the championship from being clinched early (2009). However, in the dominant seasons of 2011 and 2013, it simply delayed Vettel’s inevitable victories. Since 2006, we’ve been blessed with close seasons with the exception of 2011 and 2013. Double points can not and will not change the fact that Red Bull dominated 2011 and 2013, and that Mercedes are dominating 2014.

[Kingshark]

1990

Round 13/16: Portugal
1. Senna – 78 pts
2. Prost – 60 pts

Round 14/16: Spain
1. Senna – 78 pts
2. Prost – 78 pts

Round 15/16: Japan
1. Senna – 78 pts
2. Prost – 78 pts

Round 16/16: Australia
1. Prost – 85 (86) pts
2. Senna – 78 pts

Conclusion: Prost would have been champion. Also, this would have ended the infamous “21 year drought” for Ferrari from ’79 until 2000.
Although it should be noted that, with double points in the final 3 races, Senna would probably not have taken out Prost in Suzuka.

[Kingshark]

1991

Round 13/16: Portugal
1. Senna – 83 pts
2. Mansell – 59 pts

Round 14/16: Spain
1. Senna – 87 pts
2. Mansell – 79 pts

Round 15/16: Japan
1. Senna – 99 pts
2. Mansell – 79 pts

Round 16/16: Australia
1. Senna – 109 pts
2. Mansell – 85 pts

The irony in Adelaide would be that – because the race was red-flagged on lap 14 because of torrential rain – a supposed double points race would turn out to be a normal points race.

[Kingshark]

1994

Round 13/16: Portugal
1. Schumacher – 76 pts
2. Damon Hill – 75 pts

Round 14/16: Europe
1. Schumacher – 96 pts
2. Damon Hill – 87 pts

Round 15/16: Japan
1. Schumacher – 108 pts
2. Damon Hill – 107 pts

Round 16/16: Australia
1. Schumacher – 108 pts
2. Damon Hill – 107 pts

Conclusion: Schumacher still champion by 1 point.

[Kingshark]

1997

Round 14/17: Austria
1. Schumacher – 68 pts
2. Villeneuve – 67 pts

Round 15/17: Luxembourg
1. Villeneuve – 87
2. Schumacher – 68

Round 16/17: Japan
1. Schumacher – 88 pts
2. Villeneuve – 87 pts

Round 16/17: Japan
1. Villeneuve – 95
2. Schumacher – 88

Note: Schumi would probably still have pulled off the same stunt in Jerez, so in that sense, Frentzen would still be the likely runner-up in the WDC.

[Kingshark]

1998

Round 13/16: Belgium
1. Hakkinen – 77
2. Schumacher – 70

Round 14/16: Italy
1. Schumacher – 90
2. Hakkinen – 80

Round 15/16: Luxembourg
1. Schumacher – 102
2. Hakkinen – 100

Round 16/16: Luxembourg
1. Hakkinen – 120
2. Schumacher – 102

[Kingshark]

1999

Round 13/16: Italy
1. Hakkinen – 60
2. Irvine – 60

Round 14/16: Europe
1. Hakkinen – 64
2. Irvine – 60

Round 15/16: Malaysia
1. Irvine – 80
2. Hakkinen – 72

Round 16/16: Japan
1. Hakkinen – 92
2. Irvine – 88

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