Following widespread criticism of the controversial "elimination" qualifying format used in Australia and Bahrain, the system was abandoned for the Chinese Grand Prix and the three-period system used between 2006 and 2015 was reintroduced.
繼澳洲及巴林採用的「淘汰制」排位賽廣受批評後，這項系統在這場中國大獎賽被廢除，並恢復為2006年至2015年間的三階段系統。