Double points in final Grand Prix of season boosts Button’s claims

Bernie Ecclestone’s proposal to offer double points in the final race of the 2014 Formula One season to potentially prevent the drivers’ championship being decided too early is unlikely to have too many admirers, but one may well be Jenson Button.

The idea does make the final race more of a lottery, as a puncture or a blown engine could cause a standings leader to fail to finish, while another driver would pick up 50 points for a victory.

However, with none of the team bosses attempting to overturn the proposal at a recent F1 meeting, it is increasingly likely to be a feature of the 2014 season.

Given that Sebastian Vettel has won the final race of three of the last five Formula One seasons, the change may not impact him too much and he is still odds-on at 5/6 to lift the drivers’ championship for a fifth successive year.

Perhaps introducing cost caps would be a better way of keeping the drivers’ race closer, where teams could be given a set budget that they would have to break down to use on aerodynamics, power and personnel.

But this is a discussion for another article on another day and taking the latest developments into consideration, Button has to appeal at 28/1 as an each-way proposition in the drivers’ championship Formula One odds.

Across the last five seasons, Button has finished on the podium of the final race on four occasions and finished fourth in the other, which was his best result of last season for McLaren in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

It is the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that will bring the curtain down on the 2014 season and this is also a race where Button has podiumed three times in five years.

Lewis Hamilton directly follows Vettel in the drivers’ championship betting at 4/1, with Ferrari pair Fernando Alonso (11/2) and Kimi Raikkonen (11/1) next.