Points for P20? Potentially...

As recently as 2009, drivers were only awarded 10 points for a race win and the points paying positions only extended to eighth place. Before that it was sixth place. But in 2010 that all changed, 25 points for a win and 10th being the lowest points scoring position.

So dramatic was the change, that Jenson Button’s championship winning haul of 95 points would have seen him finish only ninth the next season.

Therefore, one of the best comparison stats of all time was ruined. No longer could drivers be ranked on how many points were won in their career, as it is now unfairly in favour of modern drivers.

And now there are rumours that the points paying positions could be extended all the way down to P20, meaning that every car that finished the race would earn points.

Force India co-owner Vijay Mallya revealed the plans at this weeks Strategy Group meeting.

He said: "They're considering whether the points system should go all the way down to 20th, 20th being every car scores a point if they finish the race.

"The bottom starts with one point and then goes up. Or whether 10th should be extended down to 15th. All these discussions took place."

Mallya says that some members of the meeting disagreed with the proposal, believing that restricting points to the top ten pushes the teams harder.

"The point that was made is that there's a certain panache at being referred to as finishing in the top 10," he told reporters at Silverstone. "That will get diluted if you start giving points down the line. 

"When we do well all my friends send me messages saying, 'Congratulations, another top 10 finish'. 

"Top 10 has a certain sense of achievement to it. 

"The counter point that was made was that if every driver gets a point, all the way down to the bottom, then every car is going to be racing for a point.

 “So at the end of the day nobody is going to stop pushing the limits just because they're outside the top 10 and there is no reward at the end."