Sebastian Vettel says Formula One “cannot be proud” of its decision to stick with the qualifying format which flopped so spectacularly in Melbourne, last month.

Red-faced team bosses agreed to revert back to last year’s system in a hastily-arranged meeting on the morning of the season opener after the sport faced a fierce backlash following its disastrous debut.

But in subsequent meetings a failure to agree on the right path forward – whether to ditch the new knockout system or run a hybrid version of last year’s format and the 2016 rules – means the sport is bracing itself for yet further criticism in Bahrain.

“I am as disappointed as anyone that I know that we didn’t go back,” said Vettel, the four-time world champion.

“Put it this way if you sell vanilla ice-cream, but everybody who comes to your shop is asking for chocolate ice-cream and the next day you open – you expect to sell chocolate ice-cream but instead you just sell vanilla again.

“Usually you do what your clients would like you to do but you are not really doing the job if you do the exact opposite.

“It’s something that we can’t be proud of.

“If everybody is against something and you still decide for it, and qualifying is just one example that something is not right.”

The elimination-style system took its bow in Australia, but came under fire as drivers watched the final minutes of qualifying in their garages rather than on track.

Bahrain practice

World Championship leader Nico Rosberg lapped more than a second quicker than last year’s pole position time as Mercedes dominated Bahrain Grand Prix practice yesterday.

The German led both sessions with his triple champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton second.

Rosberg’s best lap of one minute 31.001 seconds, in the floodlit evening session at the Sakhir circuit compared to Hamilton’s 2015 pole of 1.32.671.

Hamilton, winner for the past two years in Bahrain, was the only other driver to lap below the 1:32 mark with a best effort of 1:31.242.

McLaren’s Jenson Button produced a third best time of 1:32.281 on the super-soft tyres.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, of Finland, had been third fastest in the afternoon practice, a hefty 1.834 seconds off Rosberg’s pace on the same soft tyres as the Mercedes pair.

Meanwhile, Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne got to grips with the McLaren ahead of his Formula One race debut as stand-in for the injured Fernando Alonso and was 18th on the 22-driver timesheet in the first session.

The rookie moved up to 11th after another 30 laps in the second practice.