World Council approves F1 qualifying change

The World Motor Sport Council has today formally approved the return of the Formula One qualifying system as it was used in 2015. This means the elimination of 6 cars in the first two parts of qualifying, before a shootout among 10 cars in the final session.

An FIA statement released today reads: "The World Motor Sport Council today approved, via e-vote, the decision to revert to last season’s qualification format for the remainder of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship."

Following two attempts with a system that eliminated drivers a regular time intervals, teams again called for a change, as neither attempt lived up to expectations.

While team principals soon called for a review of the system, Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone still tried to take it a step further initially, proposing two new alternatives for which the teams could. What followed however was a letter from those teams to the rule makers, with a unanimous request to return to the 2015 system.

This triggered Todt and Ecclestone to back out on 7 April.

A statement from the FIA read: "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."

The statement at the time also noted that the teams were willing to try out other alternatives later in the year, should the championships be decided early on.

The move is particularly interesting, and seemingly the first time teams have formed a joint front since the disbanding of the Formula 1 Teams Association in 2014 after internal discussions and distrust on the team's compliance of the resource restriction agreement.

What qualifying system we will end up with at the end of this year, or 2017, remains a question for everyone.