On March 17, the FIA announced a new scoring system would be used to determine the 2009 Formula One Drivers’ Championship. Shortly thereafter teams vocalized their belief that the rules could not be changed so close to the start of the season without their unanimous agreement. The FIA then offered to defer the plan until the 2010 season.
The new system will use total number of wins to determine the Formula One Drivers’ Championship instead of determining the champion purely on a points system. The points system will remain intact, but only to determine places after first. The points system will also be used in the event of a tie for first place.
Another scoring system was also a possibility, but was unanimously rejected by the FIA World Motor Sport Council. This scoring system would have been based purely by points, but using a different scale.
Source: Official Formula One Website