Massa favours current points system

Felipe Massa has applauded the scrapping of the controversial 'winner-take-all' system that was due to be imposed this year.

At a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council last Tuesday, it was decided from this season the winner of the world title would be the driver with most race wins, but just 72 hours later, world governing body, the FIA, were forced to embarrassingly abandon plans for the new system after the Formula One Teams' Association voiced their protest.

Massa, who would have captured last season's title from Lewis Hamilton on the number of races won, believes that it is not the way to resolve a year-long championship battle. He said: "I'd say the rule to assign the title to the driver who wins the most races is not correct."

He added: "A driver might win more races, but might be very inconsistent in his performance, not gaining many points. In this case I think he wouldn't deserve the title."

FOTA proposed a 12-9-7 points split for the top three but that idea was unanimously rejected by the WMSC.

However, Massa believes that is the right way to go, adding: "I think the best idea was the one presented by the teams, where the GP winner would have taken a lot more points than the second.

"If FIA didn't like this idea, it's better to remain with last year's system.

"But if the difference in points between first and second place was greater there would be a greater stimulus to fight for the win, but you would still have to be consistent throughout the season.

"We've 17 races in the championship. It is not a 100 metre sprint in the Olympics where everything happens in under 10 seconds."