Radical plans to revolutionise Formula One have been rejected by the teams as major changes to qualifying were announced today.
The idea of drivers swapping teams in the first 10 races and of successful drivers being penalised with a weight penalty were not passed when the Formula One Commission met at Heathrow Airport.
But the Commission have altered qualifying and the points system used in the sport. From next season qualifying will be held over Friday and Saturday instead of Saturday only.
Drivers will have just one flying lap on each day and will go out in turns.
The championship leader from the previous season will do the first flying lap when the new season gets under way in Melbourne next March.
On Saturdays, the slowest driver from the Friday session will go out first.
Max Mosley, president of the sport's world governing body the FIA, also announced changes to the points system so that in future the top eight drivers instead of the top six will be awarded points.
The winner will still receive 10 points but drivers in the lesser placings will be awarded eight, six, five, four, three, two and one points, instead of the present system whereby the second-placed driver gets six points.
Teams who agree to restrict their testing to just 10 days next season will also be able to run for two hours on the Friday of a race weekend and will be able to use their third driver.
It was also announced that next year's Belgian Grand Prix would not take place after the teams could not unanimously agree to run the event without tobacco advertising.
Next season will be reduced to 16 races and there is a strong likelihood Belgium will not return to the calendar with Bahrain and Shanghai having already been given races for the 2004 campaign.