It's an oft' asked question - 'what would have happened under the old points system?'.

In yet another attempt to spice up the show, and thwart Ferrari, at the end of the 2002 season - a season blighted by the orchestrated results in Austria and the United States, the FIA opted to change the points system.

Out went the 10, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 system, which had basically been in place - awarding points to the top 6 - since 1961, to be replaced by a new system which awarded points to the top 8 finishers. In addition to more drivers getting points, the value of a win was greatly reduced; whereas previously the difference between first and second was 4 points, under the new system the deficit was just 2.

Clearly it worked, for Kimi Raikkonen took the 2003 title fight right to the wire, despite winning just one race to Michael Schumacher's six victories.

If the old system had been in place in 2005, Fernando Alonso would still have won the title, albeit by 16 points rather than 21, however, Michael Schumacher would have lost third spot to Juan Pablo Montoya. Brother Ralf would also have lost out, dropping to eighth place behind teammate Jarno Trulli and Rubens Barrichello.

For what it's worth, under the old system the 2005 World Championship would have ended up like this:

1 Alonso - 115
2 Raikkonen - 99
3 Montoya - 46
4 M Schumacher - 40
5 Fisichella - 38
6 Trulli - 26
7 Barrichello - 23
8 R Schumacher - 20
9 Button - 19
10 Heidfeld - 18
11 Webber - 16
12 Coulthard - 8
13 Monteiro - 4
14 Villeneuve - 4
15 Alexander Wurz - 4
16 Massa - 4
17 Karthikeyan - 3
18 Albers - 2
19 Klien - 2
20 de la Rosa - 2
21 Friesacher - 1