Teams to discuss ‘fuel burn’ axe at Monza
The current so-called 'knockout' system has been generally embraced since it debuted last season.
But, in conjunction with the parallel parc ferme regulations which require cars to qualify with initial race-levels of fuel in the final Q3 session, it sparked an unwelcome phenomenon known as the 'fuel burn'.
These opening laps of the top-ten runout are not only tedious, but – given their objective for the drivers of simply burning fuel and earning 'credits' to add more fuel before the race – also controversial in a political sense.
"I think we've got to find a way of getting rid of the fuel burning laps, which is just a completely strange thing to do given we're all becoming eco-friendly," Renault technical director Bob Bell, who otherwise praised the knockout format, said in the team's pre-Monza official podcast this week.
Engineering director Pat Symonds is a wholehearted supporter of the current qualifying format, but he admitted that the fuel burning "is not good".
He added: "Interestingly we're talking about that tomorrow with a view to getting rid of it for 2008."