Formula 1's return to the old qualifying format has been officially approved by its full governance structure, Autosport can confirm.

Last Thursday FIA president Jean Todt and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone announced they had accepted a unanimous request from the F1 teams to revert to the qualifying format in force in 2015.

Todt and Ecclestone declared ditching the much-maligned elimination system introduced this year to be "in the interests of the championship", pending approval by the F1 Commission and the World Motor Sport Council.

On Friday afternoon the 26-man F1 Commission signed off its acceptance of ditching the elimination format and returning to the set-up in place for the previous 10 seasons.

Just over five weeks after voting in the initial qualifying revamp, the WMSC has now also unanimously agreed to the return of the old system from this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix to the end of the season.

An FIA statement said: "The World Motor Sport Council today approved, via e-vote, the decision to revert to last season's qualification format for the remainder of the 2016 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

"The format, where the slowest six cars are eliminated at the end of the first two qualifying sessions before a final 10-car shootout for pole in Q3, will return for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix."

In the meantime, and throughout the course of the year, the teams will undergo "a global assessment of the format of the weekend", with the prospect an overhaul will be in place for 2017.

Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams expressed her relief at the qualifying u-turn earlier on Monday.

"I'm relieved and Williams is relieved that we are going back to 2015," she said.

"It is obvious what the fans want, I hope it is what the media wants and it's certainly what are partners want."

Formula 1 world championship leader Nico Rosberg expects he will be at Mercedes "for some time to come" despite being out of contract at the end of the year.

Rosberg is now in his seventh season with the team, having joined following its formation in 2010 after it took over Brawn GP at the end of the previous year.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff said in December contract talks with Rosberg were unlikely to take place until the middle of this year as he firstwanted to see how the season would pan out.

Rosberg said: "The contract is not something that is present in my mind. Why should it be?

"I'm very comfortable anyway here, I have a great relationship, and I'll be here for some time to come, and that's it.

"It's not something that's on my mind at the moment."

In terms of earning himself a renewed contract, Rosberg has started the season strongly with back-to-back victories in Australia and Bahrain to extend his winning streak to five going back to last season.

Rosberg maintains he is doing nothing differently in his bid to overcome team-mate Lewis Hamilton after being beaten by the Briton in all three seasons they have been together.

"I'm just enjoying it at the moment," added Rosberg.

"I'm very privileged to drive this car, to be fighting for victories for such a long time, and when I go to China I know I'm going to be fighting for the win there as well.

"It's such a great feeling to have, winning is awesome, celebrating with the team, and of course getting all those points, it's great to start the season in such a way, and it's not the end for me.

"But it's really about not looking too far ahead, it's about being in the moment.

"I was flat-out last year, but it didn't often go my way, but now in these first two races it has gone much more my way."

Suggested to Rosberg he was coping better than Hamilton with this season's clampdown on radio transmissions between pitwall and driver, the 30-year-old replied: "Lewis is smart.

"It's not going to be a big problem for him to adapt to those things, so in that case comparing is down to you, but I like the challenge.

"It's up to us now out there, we need to get the job done ourselves, with fuel, this and that, it's a good challenge out there. It's cool."

KEY PLAYERS IN THE 2016/17 SILLY SEASON

After a static 2015/16 winter, there's potential for plenty of upheaval in the F1 driver market over the next 12 months. Here are some the key pieces that have to fall into place.

Rosberg's new deal

Mercedes has previously hinted at changes if its drivers' relationship became fractious again, and with Hamilton under contract that placed Rosberg on the bubble - but he's begun 2016 as the man in form.

Raikkonen's last chance?

Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas were among those strongly linked to the second Ferrari seat before the Scuderia decided to retain Kimi Raikkonen for 2016 after all. Will the Finn cling on again?

What next for Verstappen?

F1's hottest young property surely won't spend much longer at Toro Rosso - will he stay in the Red Bull fold and graduate to RBR (and if so, who makes way?) or accept advances from rivals?

Getting Vandoorne on the grid

Now one of the select band of debut points-scorers, Stoffel Vandoorne will surely be on the 2017 grid full-time - but supplanting one of McLaren's pair of veteran world champions or placed elsewhere?

Renault making its mark

Drivers were not top of the list as Renault's Lotus takeover came together late, so it was content to inherit Enstone's contracted duo - and then had to replace Pastor Maldonado with the handily drive-less Kevin Magnussen anyway. But is a Magnussen/Jolyon Palmer pairing how Renault sees its future?

Formula 1's technical chiefs are again attempting to formulate the framework of the 2017 regulations in Friday's meeting at Heathrow.

It is now eight months since the Strategy Group proudly declared plans for "faster cars and thrilling races" from '17 via a range of technical proposals.

It is understood a rules package was close to being signed off towards the end of last season.

Then a spanner was thrown in the works regarding the planned increase in downforce at a technical meeting in December.

Concerns were expressed that while a higher level of downforce would improve laptimes, the offset would likely be lower grip and even more difficulty in overtaking.

Eight of the 11 teams agreed on a revised solution at that meeting but despite that hint of common ground, a number of teams have been working on alternative ideas - which some have described as 'middle-of-the-road' solutions.

This is set to further muddy the waters. One insider expressed a fear "things are going to get messier before they get better".

Throw in the fact the March 1 deadline for when the rules are supposed to be in place is fast approaching, and the pressure is growing to find answers.

Beyond that date changes to the regulations for '17 need unanimous agreement, and that history suggests that is virtually impossible in F1 with so many agendas at work.

Another key area for discussion is the FIA's plan to introduce cockpit protection, hopefully from 2017.

After years of research the FIA will be proposing the Mercedes-designed 'halo' as the way forward.

But again there may well be problems, with suggestions teams may prefer a freedom in design over a universal, FIA-approved, solution.

This would naturally mean the FIA needing to test each in its own right for strength and suitability.

Discussions are also planned around the proposals that emerged from the recent Strategy Group and F1 Commission meetings in Geneva.

Engines are foremost among those. With the independent engine idea shelved, a way forward was agreed with regard to the cost and supply of power units.

From 2018, the four engine manufacturers must supply customers with engines for €12million per annum, which means cuts of €8-13m on the prices they charge at present.

This in itself proposes its own technical difficulties given the money that must be saved, as does the fact that from '18 each car may be permitted to use just three gearboxes per season.

One other item on the agenda will be another look into weight saving.

The increases in tyre size and wheel width for 2017 will mean a weight increase of around 10kg.

The FIA is keen to offset that with cuts elsewhere, but the teams are arguing to do so means an increase in costs.

With so many points of potential disagreement, Williams technical chief Pat Symonds recently suggested postponing the rules revamp to 2018 would be wise - though he acknowledged this was highly unlikely.

No formal press release is expected after the meeting.