Fastest lap bonus - Farce or Fabulous

[Nitrodaze]

At the very last few days leading up to the first grand prix in Melbourne Australia, the F1 management rushed in a new rule for F1 that awards one point for the fastest lap of the race. There is one caveat, drivers can only get the bonus point, only if they finish the race in the top ten. Hence, if a driver does the fastest lap and then broke down before the end of the race, he would not be awarded the bonus point even if nobody else beat his fastest time.

One problem is, the drivers in the fastest cars may hug these bonus points and prevent the midfield from the opportunity. Secondly, drivers may only choose to attempt to get the fastest lap at the end of the GP. I think Mercedes may use this to bolster up their shortfall to Ferrari to keep the fight close and drawn out. Redbull may attempt to use these bonuses to try to get into the mix with Mercedes. You can see how the midfield may lose out.

The other thing to bear in mind is that the fastest lap does not need to be qualifying level fast. When everyone is conserving engine life, it may simply fall to the fastest normal race lap [fastest slow lap]. With the low number of engine limitation, l doubt any team would sacrifice engine life for one point. We would expect to see real duel for fastest laps when engines are reaching their end of racing life.

Chances are, the fastest lap bonus may not bring any real excitement to spectators in its current format. I personally think, they should have made the bonus available to teams outside the points, to inspire backend teams to have the chance to earn points which may otherwise be impossible. I think it would energize the creativity and commitments of these teams. Thus, the fastest backend team would have an opportunity to win a share of the 21 points available from the bonus scheme.

What do you think?