It's official: F1 has scrapped ‘elimination’ quali!

Hold the back page! Formula One will revert back to the 2015 qualifying format following weeks of unnecessary turmoil.

Bernie Ecclestone and FIA President Jean Todt have backed down from their fight to alter how qualifying works "in the interests of the Championship" after the teams signed a letter demanding a return to the previous format.

Instead they will investigate changes for 2017, with the potential for trial-runs at the end of the current season if the drivers and constructors titles have already been decided.

It signals the end of a saga that has dragged on for over a month and a half, after the first hint of the ‘elimination’ proposal first surfaced in late February.

The system was introduced for the start of the season at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, however the teams agreed to drop it immediately after the lack of track action proved unpopular with the fans.

But despite this consensus, the format was retained for the next race in Bahrain due to an impasse among decision makers. Without a unanimous agreement on how to move forward, the sport was compelled to stick with the status quo while the idea of a two-lap ‘aggregate’ qualifying structure was floated as a solution.

After a handful of days considering this latest suggestion, all 11 outfits on the grid decided that it wouldn’t deliver any measurable level of improvement, a feeling they made clear to Ecclestone and Todt yesterday.

With support from the fans also non-existent, a return to the old method will now be implemented in time for the Chinese GP next week.

That is, of course, assuming there isn’t another twist in the tale beforehand...