The battle for the Formula One world championship was transformed this afternoon when the FIA announced that the number of race wins, and not the final points total, will decide the title.

The changes, designed to make racing more exciting with drivers forced to go for a win rather than settle for points in lower positions, form part of a dramatic revamp unveiled by the sport's governing body.

If the new regulation had been in place last season, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton would not be the current world champion because he won five grands prix against the six taken by Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

If the new rule had been adopted when the Formula One world championship started 59 years ago, it would have thrown up 13 different title winners. Nigel Mansell would have been champion three times instead of once and John Surtess would have lost the 1964 championship to Jim Clark.

The new rule is not an Olympic-style presentation of gold, silver and bronze medals, favoured by F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone. And the FIA have also rejected a proposal by the Formula One Teams' Association to offer a greater reward to race winners by giving them 12 points for taking the chequered flag rather than the current 10.

Instead, the current 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 system will stay in place, but the world champion will be the driver who wins the most races in the 17-round title chase.

The points table will only be used as a tie-breaker to determine the new champion if two or more drivers win the same number of Grands Prix.

Just as radical is a voluntary £30million budget cap for each two-car team, which will come into force in 2010. That sum represents just one-10th of the amount thought to have been spent by McLaren last season.

Teams will have a choice of how they operate next year. They can either race outside of the budget cap to rules similar to those that will be in operation this season. Or they can accept the FIA's budget cap and be rewarded by being allowed to exploit a more aerodynamically efficient underbody to the car, moveable wings, and an engine which is not subject to a rev limit or a freeze on development.

The dilemma facing rich teams like McLaren, Ferrari, Toyota and BMW-Sauber is that a budget-capped car may be more competitive.

FIA president Max Mosley defended the swingeing
cost-cutting move, saying: “These rules will encourage clever engineering. Success will come to the teams with the best ideas, not only the teams with the most money.”