Formula 1 will officially revert back to the 2015 qualifying format used last season, after FIA president Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone caved into demands from the teams to drop controversial plans to implement an aggregate system in place of the elimination-style system currently in use.
All 11 F1 team bosses signed a letter and sent it to Todt and Ecclestone on Thursday morning, demanding the sport switches back to the popular three-stage knockout system for the Chinese Grand Prix, believing it to be in the best interests of the sport.
The letter also made it clear that any attempt to implement an aggregate system or similar would be rejected.
Therefore the only options open to Todt and Ecclestone were to either comply with the teams demands or continue with the current and much criticised elimination format, as only unanimous support can inact a rule change at such late notice.
Both parties have agreed to back down. Therefore with unanimous agreement sought to revert back to the old format, the rule change will go before the F1 Commission and the World Motor Sport Council next week where it will almost certainly be given the green-light for the Chinese GP.
"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," confirmed a statement from the FIA.
"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 added that qualifying would again be looked at for 2017: "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."
