Plans in play for major F1 qualifying shakeup

Formula 1's leading figures are set to vote later this week on a radical shake-up of the sport's qualifying system – with the final session to decide grid slots taking place on Sunday mornings. Following the success of the system adopted at the Japanese Grand Prix, after the forced cancellation of Saturday's schedule because of the threat of a typhoon, motor sport's governing body has already approved plans for two aggregate sessions to be introduced next year. The new plan would involve one qualifying run on the Saturday of a grand prix weekend, with another on Sunday morning. The times for the two sessions would then be added together to decide the grid slots. First qualifying would run with light fuel, while race fuel and settings would be required for the second session. The plans are set to be decided on by a fax vote of the Formula 1 Commission later this week, although it is unclear yet whether teams are in favor of the new system. There could be resistance because Sunday qualifying would give the teams less time to make repairs to their cars or finalize strategy if there is any problem in the morning run. This year's qualifying system, with two sessions taking place back-to-back on Saturday has been widely criticized, but the teams could not reach agreement on a replacement format. Autosport.com