The FIA and the Strategy Group have clearly run out of ideas. As seems to be the case at the top of almost every industry or corporate organisation these days linear thinking has been firmly cemented in the echelons of power and control. F1 appears to reflect the current evolutionary state of the humans who are ultimately in control of our lives and endeavours. They are incapable of taking a holistic view of the own affairs let alone the affairs of others. They cannot think outside of "the box" since their existence is confined to a narrow tube.
So once again they tinker at the edges and faff about with the middle, reducing everything to the lowest common demoninator. Tonight they will tuck themselves up in bed thinking that they have done a good job. The fans will be pleased, they think, because their favourite driver will have a special number .... woo fucking hoo. The fans will be pleased because there's a wimpy penalty to be used that will be less onerous to their hero ... wow fucking woop di doo.
The best one of the lot, though, is that they confirm
RasputinLives analysis that all the blokes except Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull weren't even trying to win the 2013 titles. To make sure that they put in maximum effort they will double the scores for the final race. Brilliant. In the new era when there is concern for potential unreliability with the turbocharged power units the teams are now faced with prospect of having work their undone by another joker card thrown in at the last hurdle. In fact it may pay a team to err on the side of caution. Maybe not trying very hard occasionally to guarantee having a car in one piece in the hope that the "double points joker card" plays in their favour might work. Whatever, the team that does the best job will still, likely as not, get the job done before the last race. It's as near as dammit 50/50 if history is anything to go by.
Meanwhile, we will have F1 cars going slower with drivers sticking to the rails to look after the boots and no flamboyant exhibitions of driver reactions and brilliance. If there is any brilliance we won't be able to recognise it anyway.
Well done F1 top heads, you've surpassed yourselves.