Meetings of the F1 Strategy Group and the F1 Commission were held yesterday in Geneva, with a number of constructive proposals being agreed.

Upon the recommendation of the Strategy Group, the F1 Commission passed a series of new measures designed to deliver a faster, more spectacular FIA Formula One World Championship.

Qualifying format

A new qualification format was unanimously accepted by the F1 Commission. The new system is being evaluated for introduction, potentially as soon as the beginning of the 2016 season.

The basis of the new elimination format is as follows:

16 minutes
After 7 minutes, slowest driver eliminated
Slowest driver eliminated every 1 minute 30 seconds thereafter until the chequered flag
7 drivers eliminated, 15 progress to Q2

15 minutes
After 6 minutes, slowest driver eliminated
Slowest driver eliminated every 1 minute 30 seconds thereafter until the chequered flag
7 drivers eliminated, 8 progress to Q3

14 minutes
After 5 minutes, slowest driver eliminated
Slowest driver eliminated every 1 minute 30 seconds thereafter until the chequered flag
2 drivers left in final 1 minute 30 seconds

The final elimination in each session occurs at the chequered flag – not when time is up.

Driver of the Day

The F1 Commission agreed to the introduction of a Driver of the Day award, to be implemented by the Commercial Rights Holder in conjunction with Formula One broadcasters, with the intention of driving greater fan engagement.

Viewers will be encouraged to vote online for their "Driver of the Day" throughout a Grand Prix, with the winner to be announced as part of the race broadcast immediately following the conclusion of the race, when the driver will be presented with their prize.

2017 Sporting and Technical Regulations

Following the recommendation of the Strategy Group, the F1 Commission agreed to postpone the deadline for the finalisation of 2017 Sporting and Technical Regulations until 30 April, 2016 – to allow all stakeholders the best opportunity to complete all relevant work.

2017 bodywork

New bodywork regulations have been adopted to create more exciting cars, delivering additional downforce to increase speeds and lower lap times.

The FIA, teams and official tyre supplier will continue discussions on the best solution for testing of the new tyres required as part of the regulations.

Power unit supply

Significant further progress was made on the four major topics regarding Power Unit supply:

Supply cost

Obligation to supply

Performance convergence

Further improvement of noise

A working group consisting representatives of the FIA, Commercial Rights Holder, Power Unit suppliers and customer teams will undertake further work with the aim of reaching agreement on a plan to meet the above requirements by 30 April, 2016.

Cockpit protection

The F1 Commission confirmed the intention of introducing some form of cockpit protection from the 2017 season. All stakeholders are working together to make this a reality, with the "Halo" concept currently the preferred option. Other options, such as transparent cockpit protection, will continue to be evaluated.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by C5, 25/02/2016 6:41

"Well, F1 surely excels in one regard: Utter and complete idiocy...

The qualifying format was one of the things that actually worked on a very consistent basis. But clearly it is way too easy to understand, so what we desperately need is complicated computer-infested mess of rules to make everything more obscure and less accessible. Great! Brilliant! Give yourself a payrise! Not..."

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2. Posted by gturner38, 25/02/2016 3:06

""Driver of the Day? What is this -- of course most will vote for "their" driver no matter how badly he does. How many Chinese will vote at the Chinese GP? And who will understand their votes -- translators?"

It's actually something similar to what we've seen in sports cars with Radio Le Mans doing a "Spirit of the Race" award at the end of every WEC and IMSA race. The one small difference is that SOTR is open to everyone including pitcrews, engineers, race control, and even the fans who I think won for the race in Fuji that was 18 laps behind a safety car over 3 hours."

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3. Posted by Canuck, 25/02/2016 0:53

"Qualifying format --Question? With only 8 remaining for a few min in Q3, how will this affect the tire rule of using your tire from Q2 if you are in the top 10? Will it now be the top 8 or maybe 7 or maybe only the last 2? Will there be an increase in the tire allocation i.e X number of tires to be used only for qualifying therefore no tire advantage to the slowest or fastest times? Or you must do all Q1 with 1 set, all Q2 with another set and also one set for Q3? If you do not make Q2 you return 2 sets --etc?

How will this affect the Pole winner for the yearly honors?

This will make it so confusing for the true fan that I think F1 has lost it way. The Strategy group as gone stagnantcy, can't come up with a simple idea for the fans, all must be super complex.

Driver of the Day? What is this -- of course most will vote for "their" driver no matter how badly he does. How many Chinese will vote at the Chinese GP? And who will understand their votes -- translators?

2017 bodywork? Will this include revised aerodynamics to allow less turbulence at the rear of the car to allow closer battles?

Does this committee really consider fans or only their own Engineering desires? What a bunch of BS to satisfy the owners.

"

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4. Posted by francis-n, 24/02/2016 23:33

"Farcical. After many different attempts quali was now actually OK. This new system is just going to be a mess. Hugely unimpressed"

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5. Posted by meatball, 24/02/2016 22:48

"This "sport" has now moved from "silly" to "farcical". I cannot believe that THIS is what they've come up with as a solution to solving the viewers boredom when the actual solution has been stated a thousands of times over by the dwindling population of die-hard fans. Come on FIA... WAKE UP!"

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6. Posted by itc, 24/02/2016 21:49

"Stupidity beyond belief - if the slowest driver is eliminated every 90 seconds and the lap time is >90 seconds the last but one driver/car's track position might mean they don't even get a chance to improve their time, we will inevitably see somebody posting the best lap time so far yet being eliminated. "

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7. Posted by vins0n, 24/02/2016 18:41

"Remember the Guardian advert where the driver hops out of the car and goes into the spin zone? That."

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8. Posted by Paul C, 24/02/2016 17:14

"Has F1 borrowed "Devil take the hindmost" from cycling? Some real originality there!"

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9. Posted by -ape-, 24/02/2016 17:05

"New bodywork to create more exciting cars? , then they should simplify those silly front wings, which fail when the car drives in the wake of another car and break when they are slightly touched.

"

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10. Posted by gasconboy, 24/02/2016 16:15

""Remember when one car/lap qualifying was the future. We were better off when the best time over practice week-end was used. As for making cars faster well it won't mean closer racing and how about keeping them on the track!! Quite honestly the Revival at Goodwood gives us the most spectacular racing, just wish I had a real solution!!!"

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11. Posted by scf1fan, 24/02/2016 15:36

"So what happens at a specific minute and a half mark? Race control is going to radio out to pull drivers off of hot laps? Since BE & Co. are so hot to mix things up, why don't they just take the current standings (overall, or from the previous race, and/or whichever tie-breakers they choose) and invert them at the next race. Think of the money they'd save! (Certainly I'll have to re-think whether it's worth getting up to watch qualifying in this "new" format.)
.
How they think this will spice up the show I can't figure . . . other than by making the drivers more frantic. About the only possible "good thing" that might come out of this will be that teams will not be able to sit in the pits waiting for that optimal/strategic moment. (But then they could have just made a rule; "no sitting in the pits unless for equipment changes . . . " Though, devious fellows that they are, we might get treated to 5 minute tire changes at that point. ;-) The downside will be that anyone who has any issue at the start of qualifying might be quickly relegated to the back of the grid."

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12. Posted by TokyoAussie, 24/02/2016 14:54

"New qually format and vote for best driver. Why didn't I think of that? Oh, that's right, I do have a brain."

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13. Posted by @R1Racing71, 24/02/2016 14:49

"This is all a bit desperate. The recently qualifying format was one of the things they actually got right. (With the exception of 1 hour unlimited laps where the fastest man was on pole)"

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14. Posted by stevep1855, 24/02/2016 14:00

"Qualifying? Far too complicated in my opinion....."

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15. Posted by Chris Roper, 24/02/2016 13:40

"Why not drop the "Qualifying" and the "Driver of the Day" poll and just have the fans vote for the overall winner.
It will be just as much fun and fan involvement, meet all green credentials, save the teams lots of money and still generate SMS income for the FIA.

"

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FIA confirms new qualifying format... and more

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