“Remember that awful elimination qualifying that F1 introduced that time?”
That’s what we’ll all be saying a few years down the line because GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! F1’s crappy qualifying is no more and last year’s perfectly fine format is returning for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Today it was revealed that a letter signed by all 11 Formula One teams was sent to the FIA and the commercial rights holders demanding the return of the 2015 qualifying format, and a refusal to accept some crappy idea about aggregate qualifying.
It was a huge surprise to read that all the F1 teams actually agreed on something but perhaps even more surprising was that Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt actually acknowledged the letter!
An FIA Statement 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.”
Before you get too excited though, the statement also said this…
“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.”
So don’t be too surprised if elimination or aggregate qualifying isn’t the last idiotic idea we hear this year.