Ecclestone Responsible for Qualifying Changes

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn said on Thursday that Formula One commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone must take the blame if the new qualifying format to be introduced at Silverstone next month is a flop.

Brawn said the new system - which will see aggregate times from two 25-minute sessions within an hour on Saturday decide the grid - has drawn a sceptical response from many high-profile members of the paddock.

"We all have our ideas and this is a format that has been proposed by Bernie, so really he's got to take responsibility for it if it doesn't work," Brawn said ahead of the United States Grand Prix.

"He is the promoter of Formula One, so we have to do our best to try and help the promoter put on as good a show as possible, and in that respect we support it. But I'm a little concerned that we don't keep making too many changes.

"I think it doesn't reflect well on Formula One. This is our third format of qualifying this year and I really hope we get it right this time, because I don't think it's a good thing that we keep changing the format of racing."

The current format, which will remain for this weekend and the next race in France, sees two sessions of single flying laps with the first deciding the running order for the second which, in turn, decides the grid order.

The format was introduced last year with the two sessions on separate days but it became unpopular this year when the first session was moved to Saturday to leave little real action on the Friday. The new format, which was signed off by the teams at the Canadian Grand Prix last weekend, is controversial as many believe the aggregate time method will be confusing to fans.

"We must present the accumulative or aggregate system properly to the people at the track and I'm concerned that the people in the grandstands know what's going on," Brawn warned. "It's easy for a TV viewer to follow what's going on because of technology - or it should be - but it will be a shame if the people at the track can't follow what's going on in qualifying."

Brawn revealed that teams will be allowed to use four sets of tyres during the one-hour session and that cars will be allowed to be retrieved between the two sessions to ensure fans get to see each driver in each session.