F1 bosses have agreed to an elimination style qualifying system which will be introduced for this season.
The idea was agreed at Tuesday's meetings of the F1 Strategy Group and F1 Commission in Geneva.
The system will be based on the three sessions that F1 currently has, but in each of them the slowest cars will gradually be flagged off. The plan is that seven of the 22 drivers are eliminated in Q1, seven in Q2, and only eight progress to Q3. By the end of Q3 two cars will be left fighting for pole in the closing minutes.
The F1 Commission also discussed a penalty system whereby extra time would be added to each drivers qualifying time on the basis of championship positions. A study was conducted using the 2015 Abu Dhabi GP with the championship leader having four seconds added to his qualifying time, with everyone else taking extra time on a sliding scale. It's understood that this did not gather enough support to proceed.
Also discussed was the potential abandonment of the 100kgs (220lbs) fuel limit from 2017 on the basis that the faster cars will require more fuel to run at their fuel potential. McLaren and Red Bull were reportedly in favour of such a move, but it was not passed. The more likely compromise will be a 105kgs (231lbs) limit.
Meanwhile there was no final agreement on 2017 aerodynamic rules and a decision has been postponed.
Click HERE for more F1 news and features
