I thought I mentioned it here but I must have posted it in the Season 15 Div 1 thread at the time.
tl;dr - I think the points for the sprint round reverse grid race should change for next season, as the weighting doesn't feel right.
More detailed explanation
Sprint Round points
For sprint rounds, currently full points (25, 20, 16, ...) are awarded for Race 1, and half points (12.5, 10, 8, ...) are awarded for Race 2. These points are then added together to determine the overall rank for the round, with championship points being awarded from that.
The problem...
At present it is all but mathematically impossible to win the round overall if you finish Race 1 in P4 or lower. If you have an incident in Race 1 and drop down the order to P6 or P7 then your round is pretty much already over, with an entire reverse grid race yet to come. Because no matter what happens in Race 2, the points deficit from Race 1 is already impossible to overcome. It's very demotivating especially if you are fighting for a championship and anything other than a podium is going to be a drop round.
In my experience, the erstwhile frontrunners usually find their way back to the front in the reverse grid race anyway. Whilst there is (correctly) not much benefit from parking in Race 1, the points balance is not quite right, in my opinion.
The proposals...
Option 1 - Full points in Race 1, 80% points in race 2.
This may involve some tinkering for round points (the ones that are totaled to determine the overall positions for the round) as the rounding/decimals will otherwise look a bit ugly. But it would mean that more than 3 people have a mathematical chance of winning the round before the reverse grid race starts.
Option 2 - Full points are awarded in Race 1, full points awarded in race 2.
Speedweek S3 had this, and while they awarded points for each individual race, the overall round winners were Kenny, Keeden and Simon, who were the best 3 drivers across that event - despite some other people getting reverse grid wins (can't think of their names...)
The overall winners will still be the most consistent drivers across both races, and at present the top drivers still find themselves at or near the front of the reverse grid race anyway.
Option 3 - Keep full points for race 1, keep half points for race 2
I have explained why I don't think this is ideal at the moment but everyone is welcome to disagree with me on that point.
Discuss!
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