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F1 Bahrain GP: No agreement reached on qualifying debacle

Formula 1's much maligned qualifying format remains in place for the time being as a crunch meeting between F1 chiefs and team bosses failed to yield a unanimous decision, though a new proposal is set to be offered later this week.

Meeting ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix for crunch talks, the hope was to find a unanimous agreement on qualifying, whether that be to retain it, tweak it - preferred by the FIA -, change it completely again - a preference of Bernie Ecclestone -, or follow team wishes to go back to the 2015 format.

However, after 90mins of discussions, Ecclestone and the teams emerged to confirm that no agreement has been reached, though a meeting will take place again on Thursday to consider a new proposal.

Though no team was willing to discuss this in detail, Christian Horner suggested it could be formed of an aggregate time of two laps.

"The various qualifying formats and what the FIA and commercial rights holder were trying to propose were discussed," added Toto Wolff."We have agreed to discuss internally and come back at the end of the week.

Regardless of the outcome, there appears to be no desire from the FIA or FOM to revert back to the 2015 format, widely desired by both fans, drivers and teams. It is decision that Wolff says the teams will have to accept.

"[Going back to 2015] is what the teams proposed, but it is not on the table

"We can understand the challenges the FIA and commercial rights holder have and they said 2015 is not acceptable for them, so we have to acknowledge it and accept it."

Zdroj: crash.net