Drivers wary of risky Monaco qualifying

All 22 cars will run together in a first 15-minute session on Saturday, before the slowest six are removed, and with hardly any space to let faster cars pass, drivers are expecting a very tough session.

Amid fears the new knockout format could pose more of a risk than ever on the tight streets of the principality, Barrichello has voiced his concerns too, saying the Monte Carlo event should have used a different system.

"Honestly, I think we should have a different qualifying (system) here because probably five percent of us won't say anything about qualifying, that we had a free lap, and the rest will all be (talking about) traffic, even in the last session," the Brazilian told a press conference.

"Probably not as much in qualifying three, but first qualifying is going to be like hell, really. You really need to give a lot of space to people on Thursday and see if they remember that on Saturday and let it go, because if somebody goes out of the pits, just thinking about life, it's going to be quite dangerous in a way.

"If you're going to go flat out up through Casino Square, from there on you can give some space."

Italian Jarno Trulli, a winner at the Monaco Grand Prix two years ago, also believes qualifying could be chaotic.

"We are a little bit concerned. We know that Monaco so far has always been a difficult circuit on which to qualify well without traffic and on Saturday, we will be around 22 cars out there," said Trulli.

"I think that's too many to find a good clear lap, especially the first two qualifying sessions, which will be really really difficult.

"We've had some troubles already in the past races and I am sure we will have some troubles during this race and qualifying.

"And we all know that qualifying in Monaco is so important because overtaking is nearly impossible. So I think there will be a big fight in order to find a clear lap and try to play a good strategy, not only for the race but also for qualifying and I'm sure someone will unfortunately pay and some others will be a bit luckier.

"But we will see. For sure I expect a tough Saturday afternoon."