01/04/2016
NEWS STORY
Team bosses are to meet with Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt in an attempt to rectify the mess that is qualifying.
Unfortunately the meeting will not take place until Sunday, by which time the sport’s already battered image will have been subjected to another debacle that is the new format.
In the wake of the Melbourne fiasco the teams met up on Sunday morning and unanimously agreed to revert to the old format. However, at last week's meeting of the F1 commission the only offer on the table from the FIA was a hybrid version which would see the new format retained for Q1 and Q2 whilst the old format would revert to the previous (2015) format.
A number of teams voted against the move and consequently, without the required unanimous agreement, this weekend sees the Melbourne format in use once again.
Drivers and team bosses have already admitted frustration with the move, Mercedes Toto Wolff one of the most vociferous.
"I think Saturday is going to be about the same as we had in Melbourne," he told Motorsport.com. "And then we'll see what the consequences are going to be, and whether the FIA then decides to change the rules. There will be another meeting on Sunday once they are all here."
Referring to Melbourne, he said: "I think we had a situation where funnily enough all teams had the same views. We realised that Saturday was not right, and we tried to come up with an opinion. But it's not us that makes the rules."
"It's a bit confusing, but in the end you have to accept it," he said of the FIA's decision to ignore the team bosses Melbourne agreement. "I think the reasoning they had was before we dump it overall maybe a compromise set-up is still a feasible situation. It wasn't as radical opinion as the teams had.
"We supported that compromise, because we thought it was less harmful than staying with the Melbourne format," he added. "But equally I understand the teams that voted against it, because they wanted to make a point in saying none of the solutions are really acceptable. Whatever the vote was, it was different to what we discussed on the Sunday. But again, it's not us making the rules."
Check out our Friday gallery, here.