Briatore insists on qualifying tweak

"I think the knockout system is very good, and spectacular for the spectators," he said in a team preview for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, the third race of the season. "But I am still not happy with the first part of Q3.

"At the moment, we are going round for no reason, and it doesn't make sense for the people or for our image with the environment," added the Italian.

"I think the final session should be 15 minutes long and you fuel beforehand. You then qualify, and whatever load you finish the session with, then you...start the race like that.

"What we are doing now doesn't make sense for the show."

Under the current format, introduced this year after previous systems were criticised for being too long and boring, qualifying is divided into three parts with the final 20-minutes session involving 10 cars fighting for pole position.

However, because those 10 cars are allowed to refuel afterwards only to the level they started the session with, drivers spend much of the time burning off fuel before putting in their quickest times at the end.