The 1996 champion’s views are in stark contrast to those of Vettel, Mercedes
driver Nico Rosberg and several polls of fans.
Vettel described the idea as “absurd”, di Montezemolo condemned it
as “artificial”, and Hill’s fellow pundit Martin Brundle said
double points was “an answer to a question nobody was asking”.
Despite the teams failing to block the proposal, which would mean a win at the
final race of 2014 in Abu Dhabi would be worth 50 points rather 25, Mercedes
last week released a thinly-veiled attack on the idea. Rosberg joked he
thought the idea was “rubbish”.
Ecclestone wants to award double points for the final three races of the
season, but there is believed to be widespread opposition to the idea. Given
Red Bull’s troubled start to the season, some teams are privately concerned
that double points could advantage Red Bull if they improve in the second
half of the season.
Lotus have been the only team to publicly express their opposition to the
three-race idea, with a
spokesman saying: “The best thing would be to make all the races
double points”.
At pre-season testing in Jerez, Mercedes co-team boss Toto Wolff said he had
concerns, and that the teams had not expected the “s***storm” they
had received from fans. “99 per cent of the fans say it is the wrong
move so perhaps it is something we have to revisit”, he said.