Abu Dhabi’s circuit chief has defended Formula One’s decision to award double points for the final grand prix of the 2014 season, which the UAE capital will stage in November.

The FIA made the points change in a bid to keep the championship alive as long as possible after Red Bull won four successive drivers’ and constructors’ titles and television audiences fell.

But the new rule has drawn an angry response from many fans and world champion Sebastian Vettel branded it absurd.

“The fact it came to us, that’s good for Abu Dhabi, it will keep things exciting to the last minute... I feel the mentality of the drivers will change,” Al Tareq al-Ameri, chief of executive of Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit, told a news conference.

“People don’t like changes, but for a sport like this, from the history, there are always changes happening with Formula One and that’s what keeps it exciting.”

Abu Dhabi will stage the last of 19 races this season, with Formula One hoping for more of a fight to the finish than last year, when Germany’s Vettel sealed a fourth successive world crown with three rounds to spare.

The UAE capital, which joined the F1 calendar in 2009, appears to have an evens chance of this year’s championship going to the wire, with five of the last 10 titles decided on the last day.