Mosley Agrees on Two Day Grand Prix

Max Mosley, FIA President, agreed with top Formula One drivers and said Fridays should be excluded from Grand Prix weekends, according to The Guardian newspaper.

The ruling body's president shared the same point of view as David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher, who on Thursday admitted that a two day Grand Prix would be an ideal solution to solve the problems concerning the lack of action during Friday´s practice sessions.

"If it was up to me alone to decide, I would give up Fridays altogether from the viewpoint of running the cars," said Mosley to The Guardian. "Two days, Saturday and Sunday, is quite adequate for a world-class sporting event. But I suspect it will be far too radical for the competing teams to accept."

Mosley admitted that spectators who paid to see Friday practice were not rewarded for it, as most of the teams do not spend enough time on the track to put on a show, especially on circuits where testing is allowed a week before the Grand Prix.

"It would still be OK to test at FIA-approved circuits which do not stage a race, such as Estoril, Jerez and Mugello," he said. "The problem we have at the moment is that everybody wants to conserve tyres during Friday practice sessions and are reluctant to go out on to the circuit."

Earlier this season, the rumour about a possible return of a Friday qualifying session began when even Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone admitted that the current situation was not satisfactory.

Ecclestone suggested that Friday and Saturday times should be aggregated in order to get the best of teams and drivers in each session, but Mosley disagreed.

"Qualifying on Saturday has become a world-wide sporting event in itself," he said, "with television viewing figures almost up to the level of the races themselves. If you aggregate qualifying times then the whole event is diluted."

Both Mosley and Ecclestone will meet Formula One teams bosses next Wednesday in London to discuss this issue.