Coulthard won't miss fuel burn laps

A reduction in the length of the final qualifying session from 15 minutes to 10 minutes, allied to the fact teams are no longer allowed to refuel after Q3, means that fuel burn runs will be a thing of the past in 2008.

And that move has been welcomed by Coulthard, who was far from happy about the activity that dominated the first 10 minutes of Q3.

"I think it was a complete waste of time, and almost an insult to the fans and to the drivers to see cars out on the track driving at 80 percent," said Coulthard. "F1 cars are meant to be driven flat out in qualifying and flat out in the race.

"To have a qualifying session where drivers are going around at 80 percent just to burn fuel is not very environmentally friendly. In this 10 minutes session, all we are doing is chucking CO2 into the air and it doesn't show Grand Prix cars and drivers on the limit."

The changes to qualifying will also likely lead to more pit stops in races next year, thinks BMW Sauber technical director Willy Rampf.

"It is possible we see the tendency is to go to more pit stops," said Rampf.

"There is a sporting regulation that for third qualifying we cannot do a refill after qualifying, so the fuel amount you put in the car for Q3 you keep for the race. This might lead to more pit stops and not to have a very heavy car in Q3."