The FIA has announced it will award a new medal to winners of Formula 1 grands prix, beginning with today’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.
The winner of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be presented with the first FIA Medal on the podium. Drivers have also been given medals for finishing in the top three positions in the sprint races (pictured).The FIA intends drivers to keep the medals “as a personal record of their achievements”, said the FIA in a statement.
“While the event trophies are retained by the team, or replicas provided to the drivers, this medal has been created so that each grand prix winner retains a unique personal memento to commemorate their outstanding achievement.
“The medals also highlight the long and illustrious history into which the winner of each grand prix enters by marking the number of the race since the World Championship began back in 1950, with this first medal engraved for the 1079th competition at the highest level of motor sport.”
The idea of using medals as a means of deciding the world championship was once suggested by former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone. He proposed awarding medals for the top three finishers in each race, as is done in the Olympics.
In 2009 the FIA announced this system would be used to decide the world championship, making the champion the driver with the most first-place medals. However the plan was later dropped.
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Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
20th November 2022, 12:59
No, it’s been created to blur the lines between the first three drivers to cross the finish line in a sprint and proper Grand Prix winners.
Biker56 (@biker56)
20th November 2022, 15:41
+1 I think you are right. Some will fall for it too.
DaveW (@dmw)
20th November 2022, 14:47
The teams can keep these at the factory too. It’s a contractual matter. These medals are silly.
t1redmonkey (@t1redmonkey)
20th November 2022, 14:49
What are they made of?
SteveP
20th November 2022, 15:56
I’m with the sentiments of @proesterchen
I would suggest the material used should be a base metal or plastic, to fit the level of thinking trying to sully a GP win with any kind of equality with a sprint.
Electroball76
21st November 2022, 9:26
Forged in the utter darkness of the FIA, from the tears of a billion racing fans
Apostle (@apostle)
20th November 2022, 14:55
All the issues in F1, and THIS is what the focus on.
BasCB (@bascb)
20th November 2022, 15:06
Sure, sure. Whatever. I do suspect @proesterchen might be right on the actual logic behind it!
MGus.ai
20th November 2022, 15:36
Kind of off topic, but I wish FIA to hire a photgraphy director who could work with teams and broadcaster.
Apparently with HD images, both in day and night races, one cannot clearly see the cars.
MAybe it is the effect of paintng black most part of the car’s body, but it is difficult to distinguish even etween different, not to mention between same team cars.
This seems to be worse on night races, even on HD. And on day races, I particularly dislike when the shadowed side of the cars. It is not a technical issue n terms of cameras inability to capture the image, but it looks like that nobody is taking care of it.
And I compared it to other series. For instance, on indy, after a few laps one can identify most cars on any angle it is shown. On Supercars and Nascar on can almost know the sponsors stickers.
I sincerely feel that no one is taking care of that for FIA, and the difficulty for AM to find the “right” green to put on the car so it show on TV is an evidence of that.
danarcha (@danarcha)
20th November 2022, 19:05
What? The driver’s don’t get to keep the trophies they are given on the podium?? The teams take them from them?? Am I the only one who thinks that’s ridiculous? I thought the constructor’s trophy for first place was for the team, and the three drivers get to keep their trophies.
mantresx (@mantresx)
20th November 2022, 19:14
Yeah, this is common knowledge. Teams will generally keep the trophies, just like they keep the winning cars, chassis, etc.
Unless you’re a driver with enough influence in the team and are able to write specific clauses in the contract to keep one third place trophy, some spare steering wheel and so on.
AlanD
21st November 2022, 1:45
I don’t really see the point of having both a winner’s trophy and a winner’s medal. It is not like teams sports such as football and cricket where the team wins the trophy but the participants receive individual medals. It just seems pointless. If there is a point to it, wouldn’t it have been better for them to market the idea properly and start it from the first race of next season, instead of it just coming out midweek in a press release, “oh, by the way, we’re giving out medals now”. I’ll be honest, when I heard they were giving out medals, I thought it was for TV viewers who could sit through the whole season without throwing a brick at the screen.
Electroball76
21st November 2022, 9:27
Creative new ways to add to the carbon footprint. Nice!