Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Bahrain

FIA president Jean Todt has held a news conference this afternoon ahead of the start of final practice and he said the issue of the format of qualifying will be addressed in a meeting between himself, Bernie Ecclestone and the team principals on Sunday morning. 

He said he had not offered teams the chance to vote on reverting to 2015 following their agreement to do so in Australia because they had previous agreed to adopt a revised version of the new system, but with the 2015 Q3. This is what he offered as an alternative to the current system, on the basis that there was nothing wrong with Q1 and Q2. He said this option is what he would choose himself, if he had the option to decide - elimination in Q1 and Q2, with a slight tweaking of their length, and revert Q3 to 2015. 

He said he was “optimistic” unanimous agreement would be achieved on Sunday.

F1 has received plenty of criticism for being boring in recent weeks, but let's remember why it can be awesome. Send us the most iconic or unusual pictures relating to the sport and any memorable F1 moments to#whatmakesF1awesome, external

Fernando Alonso is in Bahrain this weekend but is sitting out the race on medical advice after his crash in Australia.

That has, though, given Stoffel Vandoorne the chance to make his debut, and the Belgian enjoyed a solid first outing in practice yesterday, clocking the 11th fastest time.

Alonso has been a good egg about it all, giving Vandoorne plenty of advice. He also appears to have been eating a car-shaped cake. Not all bad.

Sorry, I've been wittering on about the new qualifying format and I realise not everyone might be aware of what that format exactly is. 

I'll get into more detail in the build-up to qualifying but for now I'll let 5 live commentator Jack Nicholls explain via this video, which was from before the Australian GP.

Right, there's been plenty of criticism of F1 in recent weeks. The poor sport has been taking it from all sides, so it's time to fight its corner. Let's fill this page with all the things that has and does make the sport brilliant - iconic moments, brilliant, wierd and amusing pictures - anything and everything.

I'll kick things off. So, what makes F1 awesome? Pretty much any picture of James Hunt ever.

Image source, Getty Images

Send in your suggestions on Twitter via #whatmakesF1awesome,, external text in on 81111 (UK only) or post a comment on the BBC Sport Facebook page.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Bahrain

Ferrari arrived in Bahrain with both them and the rest of Formula 1 expecting them to offer a more serious challenge on our pace to Mercedes than in Australia two weeks ago. But on Friday there was not a lot of evidence that was the case.

Mercedes were well over a second quicker on the super-soft tyre and half a second down on the soft. And they had a troubled day on track, with Sebastian Vettel stopping on circuit with a loose rear wheel. 

Beyond that, there is a growing belief that they have a fragility in their engine that they are trying to protect by running it at full power as little as possible. 

Can they do up their game on Saturday?

Image source, Getty Images

You just know that the elimination style qualifying format is going to be a roaring success today, don't you?

Anyway, qualifying is a few hours away yet and first we've got final practice to get through.

Nico Rosberg was fastest on Friday, while Ferrari - Mercedes' closest rivals - didn't have the best of days, a loose wheel nut cutting short Sebastian Vettel's time on the track. 

Has the Italian team got to the root of their problems? We shall have a clearer picture in around 30 minutes...

Image source, Getty Images

"It's like only selling vanilla ice cream when everybody is asking for chocolate."

Now that may sound like the words of Kimi Raikkonen - a man who KNOWS his ice cream - but it was in fact his team-mate Sebastian Vettel. 

The German, like many of his fellow drivers, isn't happy that the controversial qualifying format is back in Bahrain, and made his feelings known after practice yesterday.

“Usually you do what your clients would like you to do but you are not really doing the job if you do the exact opposite," he said. “It's something we can't be proud of.”

Formula 1's new qualifying format as described via the medium of memes:

Q1:

Chaos! Brilliant, wonderful, glorious chaos! Lots of action on the track and plenty of drama.

Image source, Knowyourmeme.com

Q2:

Confusion, some teams not too sure when to go back out and miss chance to complete a lap. No-one has any idea what is going on.

Image source, knowyourmeme.com

Q3:

Lewis Hamilton goes fastest, no-one fancies challenging it leading to two minutes of staring at an empty track.

Image source, imgflip.com

Panned by drivers, team principals and F1 pundits, you'd think that brief but farcical appearance of the new qualifying format in Australia would be its last.

Oh no, it's back.