The new points system, to be used as of 2003, has been designed to prolong the fight for the World Championship title, as well as reward more race finishers. But is that all it achieves? Atlas F1's David Wright compiled the final standings of every season in the F1 World Championship since 1950 using the 2003 points system. Take the result with a pinch of salt...

2000 Pos Driver Points Change 1 Michael Schumacher 116 = 2 Mika Hakkinen 109 = 3 David Coulthard 95 = 4 Rubens Barrichello 86 = 5 Ralf Schumacher 42 = 6 Jacques Villeneuve 36 +1 7 Giancarlo Fisichella 30 -1 8 Jenson Button 25 = 9 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 23 = 10 Mika Salo 20 = 11 Jarno Trulli 16 -1 12 Eddie Irvine 14 +1 13 Jos Verstappen 11 -1 = Ricardo Zonta 11 +1 15 Alexander Wurz 8 = 16 Pedro de la Rosa 7 -1 17 Pedro Diniz 5 N/A = Johnny Herbert 5 N/A 19 Marc Gene 2 N/A 20 Nick Heidfeld 1 N/A = Gaston Mazzacane 1 N/A

2001 Pos Driver Points Change 1 Michael Schumacher 135 = 2 David Coulthard 87 = 3 Rubens Barrichello 82 = 4 Ralf Schumacher 63 = 5 Mika Hakkinen 51 = 6 Juan Pablo Montoya 40 = 7 Nick Heidfeld 28 = 8 Jacques Villeneuve 25 -1 9 Kimi Raikkonen 24 +1 = Jarno Trulli 24 -2 11 Jean Alesi 17 +3 12 Olivier Panis 16 +2 13 Giancarlo Fisichella 15 -2 = Heinz-Harald Frentzen 15 -1 15 Eddie Irvine 14 -3 16 Jenson Button 8 +1 = Pedro de la Rosa 8 = 18 Jos Verstappen 6 = 19 Luciano Burti 2 N/A = Ricardo Zonta 2 N/A 21 Enrique Bernoldi 1 N/A

2002 Pos Driver Points Change 1 Michael Schumacher 156 = 2 Rubens Barrichello 93 = 3 Juan Pablo Montoya 74 = 4 David Coulthard 63 +1 = Ralf Schumacher 63 = 6 Kimi Raikkonen 36 = 7 Jenson Button 31 = 8 Nick Heidfeld 22 +2 9 Giancarlo Fisichella 20 +1 10 Jarno Trulli 19 -2 11 Eddie Irvine 16 -2 12 Felipe Massa 15 = 13 Jacques Villeneuve 14 -1 14 Mika Salo 10 +1 15 Olivier Panis 8 -1 16 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 6 -1 17 Takuma Sato 5 -2 = Mark Webber 5 -2 19 Allan McNish 3 N/A 20 Pedro de la Rosa 2 N/A = Alex Yoong 2 N/A