Another attempt to introduce reverse grid qualifying races at a handful of races in 2021 was defeated last week, according to reports.
Over the past year, Formula 1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn has been pushing to spice up Saturday's by replacing the usual three-part qualifying format with a 30-minute sprint race which would see the grid formed by reversing the championship standings.
A first bid to include them in the original 2020 calendar failed last year, then an attempt to try the format at circuits holding multiple races in the revised schedule this year was blocked by Mercedes.
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F1 bosses had hoped the support shown the second time would carry into a third vote on a proposal to have reverse grid qualy races at four Grands Prix next year.
However, The Race reports all three Mercedes-powered teams plus McLaren voted no at an F1 Commission meeting following the Portuguese Grand Prix.
As a result, it was not approved even under the new regulation which doesn't require absolute unanimity for a rule change to go ahead.
It is understood there would have been enough support for reverse grid races to be used in 2022.
But a vote on that was not held and it's possible other teams would change their vote to no due to the new technical regulations being introduced that year.
So once again qualifying format looks set to remain unchanged at least for the next few years at least and if you want to see a reverse grid race, there's always F2.
