F1 bosses overhaul qualifying format

Formula One bosses have agreed to revamp the 2004 grand prix timetable by limiting qualifying to one expanded Saturday session…

Formula One bosses have agreed to revamp the 2004 grand prix timetable by limiting qualifying to one expanded Saturday session and scrapping private testing at race weekends.

The decisions must still be passed by the governing body's World Motor Sport Council later this month.

Friday free practice would be from 1100 to 1200 and from 1400 to 1500 local time, filling the space used by first qualifying this year. Saturday's qualifying would be expanded to run from 1400 to 1530, with morning free practice as usual, and each driver having two timed laps instead of just one at present.

There were no changes to the Sunday timetable.

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The rules covering engines are also due to change next year with teams limited to one engine per car for the weekend, which will be deemed to have started with Friday's first practice. In theory, that means an engine may have to last up to 700 km. Sunday qualifying had been raised as an option by Formula one supremo Bernie Ecclestone but that was rejected by all teams.

Formula One changed the qualifying format this year to two sessions, the first on Friday and the second on Saturday, to shake up the sport after television audiences began to suffer from a year of Ferrari domination.