Qualifying officially reverts to previous format for China

Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has officially confirmed that the unpopular qualifying format used in Australia and Bahrain will be dropped for the rest of the season, reverting instead to the system used last year.

“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,” read an FIA statement.

“The format, where the slowest six cars are eliminated at the end of the first two qualifying sessions before a final ten-car shootout for Pole in Q3, will return for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.”

The move follows widespread criticism of the revised elimination format seen in Melbourne and Sakhir, which failed to produce the intended change in spectacle.