League Notes: F1 Heads To Bahrain GP With Unchanged Elimination Qualifying System

Formula 1 will head to the Bahrain Grand Prix with an "unchanged elimination qualifying system, after a vote to tweak it failed to receive unanimous approval." Following a "shambolic end to elimination qualifying at the Australian GP," teams had met with F1 Race Dir Charlie Whiting on race morning and "agreed to revert to the old qualifying system." However, a push back from F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone and FIA President Jean Todt "meant that there was not the support needed to ditch elimination qualifying entirely" (MOTORSPORT, 3/24).

Badminton bosses have "brought in lifetime bans for match-fixers and illegal gamblers as part of a new charter announced on Thursday which gives the body greater scope to root out corruption." The Badminton World Federation also made it "an offence not to report knowledge of illegal betting or failure to cooperate with BWF investigations as it bids to avoid the plight of tennis, which has been rocked by match-fixing allegations" (REUTERS, 3/24).