F1 is set to return to the 2015 qualifying format after an attempt by Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt to introduce an aggregate system failed to come to fruition.
The teams agreed on Sunday in Melbourne that they wanted to go back to 2015 rules, but were subsequently only given the option to vote for an amended version of elimination, and when there was no unanimity they automatically defaulted to full elimination for Bahrain.
At a Sunday morning meeting in Bahrain, the teams expected Ecclestone and Todt to finally agree to go back to the 2015 format. But instead an aggregate system, with two timed laps in each session added together, was proposed. It was agreed that the teams would study it and a decision would be made on Thursday.
However, this week the teams wrote to Ecclestone and Todt confirming that they still wanted to go straight back to 2015 and were not interested in the aggregate system, which had also proved unpopular with fans.
A joint FIA/FOM statement said: “At the unanimous request of the teams in a letter received today, Jean Todt, President of the FIA, and Bernie Ecclestone, commercial rights holder representative, accepted, in the interests of the Championship, to submit a proposal to the F1 Commission and World Motor Sport Council to revert to the qualifying format in force in 2015.
“This proposal, if approved by the F1 governing bodies, will take effect as from the Chinese Grand Prix and will apply for the rest of the season.”
Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone welcomed the idea put forward by the teams to have a global “assessment of the format of the weekend for 2017.”
