Barrichello: New Qualifying Won't Affect Drivers

Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello says the new qualifying format will not have much effect on the drivers, but he fears the system of aggregating the qualifying times may confuse the spectators.

The FIA introduced a new qualifying system for 2005, whereby the first session will be held on Saturday and the second on Sunday morning, normally four hours before the race. The best laptime for each driver from both sessions will be aggregated to form the order of the final grid.

"It's just another method," the Brazilian told Atlas F1 yesterday, at the Ferrari F2005 launch in Maranello. "We're just going to have less time before going racing. It won't change much. We're going to be as precise as any other time.

"We need to understand if there is any need to preserve the tyres on any of the qualifications in term of taking the best out of them. It's part of the game. Sometimes it might work in your favour - because of temperatures or weather, anything like that - and sometimes it goes against you, so I'm cool about that. I like the challenge of going out cold and go for it on one lap.

"I think it's going to be a good experience. As drivers we had a small experience (last season) in Japan already so it should be just the same."

The Japanese Grand Prix qualifying session was moved to Sunday morning, after imminent storms threatened to hit the Suzuka circuit on Saturday, leading the organisers to cancel the day's events and move the qualifying session to Sunday morning, for the first time in the F1 World Championship history.

But the Ferrari driver also voiced concerns that the system of aggregating times from both qualifying sessions may prove too confusing for the spectators.

"I hope the combination of the two qualifying [sessions] will be as clear as we think it will be for the spectators," he said. "That's something we want to be clear because [when] adding numbers, for someone who's on the grandstand, it's going to be difficult to know who's first and who's second, so I hope it will be clear."