SINGAPORE: French legend Alain Prost on Wednesday hit out at the double points on offer at Abu Dhabi this week as the unpopular innovation threatened to cast a shadow over the climax to the Formula One season.

The four-time world champion said he was never a fan of awarding twice the normal number of points at the final race, known as the “Abu Double” — an idea aimed at maintaining interest throughout the season.

In the event, Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are just 17 points apart, meaning the Briton will have to work hard to make sure his second world title isn’t cruelly snatched away.

“I was never in favour of double points because it’s artificial,” Prost said, during an industry conference run by high-tech composite manufacturer JEC.

“Maybe sometimes it could be good for the interest of the championship. But I don’t like very much the idea of a race giving more points than another.”

Prost said he was a traditionalist who also was against the awarding of 25 points to the winner rather than 10, which began in 2010.

“I think for interest in Formula One you want to keep things very stable, because people are always very interested about statistics and it’s changing all the time,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 20th , 2014