New qualifying agreed on

It appears that a new qualifying system will be in place for the British Grand Prix after team bosses agreed on a shorter format. The initial proposal was to have an hour split into two 20 minute sessions with a 20 minute break in between. This has been revised to give two 25 minute sessions with a 10 minute break, as television broadcasters thought a 20 minute gap between sessions was too long.

All drivers will have to complete six laps in each session and the grid will be decided by aggregate times from the two sessions. Fuel levels can be decided by individual teams -- parc fermé conditions will still apply after qualifying but the cars can be refueled for the race. The changes are expected to be approved by the FIA at a World Motor Sport Council meeting on June 30th.

"The final version of qualifying procedures was agreed and signed off by the teams and it will be introduced at Silverstone," said McLaren team principal Ron Dennis.

Minardi boss Paul Stoddart recently voiced his concerns about the new format, saying the smaller teams would suffer as they wouldn't get much television coverage. With all the drivers going out together, the bigger teams would get most of the focus.

However, Eddie Jordan said broadcasters would make an effort to give the smaller teams some attention. "In the ten minutes (break) they will try to make coverage with Jordan and Minardi and the teams who wouldn't get the coverage in the main sessions," the Irishman explained.