Big switch is backed by Bernie

LEWIS HAmILTOn, the £ 20million- ayear world champion, says it is ‘tedious’ going ‘ round and round’ the track during testing before the Formula One season roars into competitive life.

The British driver has admitted that the routine of lap after lap during pre- season testing in Barcelona — 88 for him in his peerless mercedes in half a day after 156 on monday — has left him cold. Roll on the proper argy-bargy in melbourne on march 20 is his message.

It is in Australia that the sport’s ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone (below), who said earlier in the week that the product was so bad he wouldn’t spend his own money watching it, will get his wish to see Formula One reinvented. The new elimination format in qualifying is:

Q1: 16 minutes in total; after seven minutes, the slowest driver is eliminated; then the slowest driver is eliminated every minute and a half; in all seven drivers are eliminated and 15 progress to Q2.

Q2: 15mins; after six minutes, the slowest driver is eliminated; then every minute and a half the slowest is eliminated; seven drivers are eliminated and eight progress to Q3.

Q3: 14 minutes; the elimination

F1 IS WORST IT’S

EVER BEEN... I WOULDN’T PAY

TO WATCH IT Ecclestone in Sportsmail

starts after five minutes until only two drivers are left for the shootout in the final minute and a half. The F1 Commission, chaired by Ecclestone and comprising the sport’s stakeholders, agreed to the revamp unanimously. But many in the paddock feel the Commission tinkered with the one thing that did not need mending. Qualifying has been a success for the past decade. But, importantly, what happens on a Saturday shapes the race on Sunday.

The new format means luck, jjudgment and stewards’ inquiries — as well as outright speed — will determine who starts where on the grid.

The changes were described as ‘a step in the right direction’ by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. That was about right.

Ecclestone was happy with the progress. ‘ What people needed was a bit of a shake-up,’ he said. ‘I seem to be the only person who thought we should do something in Formula One to wake everybody up a little bit. And maybe that’s what’s happened.’

A move to faster, more muscular cars for 2017 — with cockpit protection — is still on the agenda.