F1 2016: Qualifying to revert to old system from Bahrain Grand Prix

The very obvious 'dead time' created at the end of the three segments of qualifying on account of drivers being eliminated on a running clock after a certain point in Q1, Q2 and Q3 elicited extreme reactions from media, drivers, fans and other figures in the F1 paddock. The sight of an empty track with over three minutes to go in Q3 of the Australian Grand Prix qualifying has prompted reactions strong enough for all the teams in F1 to unanimously agree to scrap the new system and use the format that had been used until last season.

The move is pending the official approval of the Formula 1 Commission of the FIA - F1's governing body - but all looks set to a return to a system of deciding the F1 grid that did the job of creating urgency and never needed changing in the first place.

It is probably one the rare moments there has been such agreement over an aspect of F1 that a required change was taken rapidly. Even F1's commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone expressed his disdain for the timed elimination qualifying system.

The development was revealing in how many factors need to align to create a change in F1 as agreement among teams is required for anything to happen, which is very rare given the vested interests of the parties involved in the sport.