The points system has been flawed ever since they moved 2nd position to an 8 points and 3rd, 4th ect ect. Realistically if you were consistent enough and there were many different GP winners, you could actually win a WDC without ever having won a GP...... To me that's bullshit!
Somehow I don't think Honda were the only ones developing for the 09 season early. Way too many aero/dimension changes for any of the teams not to start development very early on. If I recall correctly, M Schumacher had tested 09 spec tyres, front and rear wings in Nov/Dec 07..... on an 06 or 07 chassis.