Mosley Backs Return to Classic Qualifying

Max Mosley, president of Formula One's governing body, said on Friday that he would prefer for the 'old' qualifying sessions to be brought back rather than the current one-lap system.

Mosley, speaking at the Monaco Grand Prix, said the hour-long "free-for-all" previously used is his favoured route to solve the current problems, with spectators and television viewers showing a lack of interest in qualifying this year.

"My personal preference is for everyone to go out for an hour and whoever is fastest is on pole position," said Mosley. "I would like a bright light on the car to show when they are on a hot lap, but I don't suppose the teams would be in favour of that."

The one-lap qualifying was brought in in 2003 in a bid to liven up the sport following Ferrari's domination the previous year, and it had the desired effect of shaking up the grid. But Michael Schumacher and Ferrari still ended the year as champions.

Qualifying was altered again this year with the Friday qualifying hour ditched and two back-to-back hours held on Saturday, but it has been a turn-off and the teams and the sport's ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone are searching for a solution.

Mosley admitted that any new proposal could be introduced immediately, but he is still waiting for potential solutions.

"There are a lot of discussions going on about qualifying," he said. "I think it is widely accepted that the present system, at least for those at the circuit, is not interesting, even the television people, I think, are also not entirely happy.

"Clearly if we had unanimity we could change it tomorrow. It is a question of getting that unanimity. I am not overly optimistic because there is always someone who disagrees.

"But there are a number of interesting things put forward, the one thing that we say is it must be simple, it must be something that can be readily explained otherwise it is just a waste of time - people lose interest, it is too complicated.

"So we are waiting to see if the teams come up with something unanimous, I am hopeful that they will."