The announcement by FIA to change the points' structure starting from2010 seems to be a part of a broad appeasement policy initiated by theworld motorsports governing body to keep everyone in good humour.Remember, starting next year, there will be at least 7 new teams amongthe 13 and these rookies will need to carry something home from theraces to justify their presence in the noisiest, brashest and mostexpensive sport.

Remember all these entrants (Lotus, Campos, Manor,USF1, Stefan GP, Renault's new avatar and Sauber F1) may end up on thegrid just to make numbers. Remember, Formula One was struggling to findquality replacements after the systematic pullout of high budgetmanufacturer teams from the sport starting last year. Honda, BMW, Toyotaand (to some extent) Renault... all the big teams with big pocketsditched the most technologically advanced sport after making promises tothe contrary.
BMW had termed Honda's departure as one-off saying itwasn't related to economic downturn but the miserable on-track form ofthe Japanese manufacturer. The same BMW had to withdraw from the sportciting economic woes. Toyota's was even worse. The Japanese auto makerhad signed the Concorde agreement committing itself to the sport till2012. The agreement became a piece of paper following the quarterlyresults and the team, at the forefront of saving Formula One, got out ofthe sport.
Renault's exit was even murkier. Had it exited withgrace, it could have been understood. However, top bosses of the FrenchF1 team were allegedly involved in race-fixing incident that tarnishedits reputation. Remember these 4 teams were giving Ferrari and McLaren arun for their money.
With the sudden departure of some of the bestknown brands, Formula One was left gasping for breath. The extension ofthe grid was an anticipatory move by the world governing body to ensurethe numbers don't dwindle. As a result, there are many first timers onthe grid in 2010.
These teams will find it difficult to match theperformance of more established players like Ferrari, Red Bull,Mercedes, Williams and McLaren are going to take a pounding. The pointssystem seems to have been devised to keep these teams in good humour andto engage them in a championship within a championship. Formula Oneneeds a level playing field. Unfortunately, the sport sees itself beingforced into a two-tier system.