The formula one qualifying session will be changed, so that danger of drivers who are slowing down after their quick laps, to save fuel, while others are in full speed, can be prevented.

The rules were likely to be changed, before Bahrain according to a spokesman for the International Automobile Federation. "Our clarification to the teams and drivers will be that cars returning to the pits having completed their flying lap or laps will be required to do so within a time that we will set. This could be approximately 120 percent of the normal time as we do to prevent drivers going very slowly to the grid, to save fuel," he said.

The McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen have already been penalized for slowing down in Malaysia qualifying. "I clearly don't like the dangers implicit in this situation," said BMW Sauber team boss Mario Theissen. "The speed differentials are so great that this is a problem which we need to resolve urgently, hopefully by the next race in Bahrain."