Todt: Qualifying Change Could Help Us

Teams have agreed to scrap the current two-session format, where the grid is decided on the morning of the race on Sunday, in favour of a single session on Saturday.

The sport's governing body said on Monday that the change would be effective from Sunday's European Grand Prix in Germany.

"I am sure it will not disturb us. I think it will probably be better for us," team boss Jean Todt told reporters in Monaco on Sunday after his team had extended their losing streak to seven races.

Seven-times World Champion Schumacher, who won the first five races of 2004, has just 12 points after six Grands Prix this year.

Ferrari, winners of 15 of the 18 races last year, have struggled with new rules this season that state drivers must use the same set of tyres for both qualifying and the race.

Last year, when teams changed tyres at pitstops, Ferrari clearly had the best for short sprints.

They had problems in getting performance from the Bridgestone tyres over a single lap in Monaco, where qualifying is crucial, but were untroubled in the race whereas rivals such as Renault struggled for grip.

"We don't have good enough tyres for the qualifying and the others don't have good enough tyres for the race. At the moment it seems it's better to qualify in front rather than be very strong during the race," said Todt.

Under the current aggregate system, teams do Saturday's first qualifying with low fuel before running on different levels according to strategy in Sunday's session.

By then they know how much they can carry without losing grid positions.

With the change, the Saturday session will become more strategic with some cars running heavier than others.

"We need to have immediate performance on one lap, it's our weak point," said Todt. "We know and we are working on it. We know that during the race we are very competitive.

"During a certain part of the race (in Monaco) we were three seconds quicker than the other competitors.

"During the race when the track is clear we are quick. But the problem is that we compromise our racing by starting so far behind," added the Frenchman.