Drivers blast F1 qualifying failure

Several drivers have slammed the newly restructured Formula One qualifying format after a controversial debut at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.??

Defending F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton went on to claim a 50th career pole ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg but all the talk was about the new system.??

A rejigged elimination-style format was introduced in an attempt to make qualifying more entertaining, but instead proved to be a massive failure.

Drivers faced elimination in 90-second intervals, which organisers hoped would mix up the grid.

However, the new format meant the final grid positions were determined with over two minutes left in an anticlimactic final session.

See what some of the drivers had to say about it:

Lewis Hamilton

"We said at the beginning it wasn't the right way, that we can't knock it before we've tried it, but the engineers were right."

Nico Rosberg

"It's good that F1 tries, but this is not the right way, we should go back to the old system."

Sebastian Vettel

"I don't see the point why everybody is surprised. We all said what is going to happen and it's happened. We were told to wait and see, but now we saw, and I don't think it's very exciting."

Jenson Button

"In the end it all works out, quickest cars at the front as they save their tyres. It doesn???t really change anything."