Schumacher may be on pole
more often in 2003
Ferrari's world champion Michael Schumacher is likely to start on pole position more often next year under Formula One's new qualifying rules, Max Mosley believes.
The German took pole seven times this year, the same number as Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya for Williams, and has welcomed single lap qualifying because of his ability to be quick immediately.
"I agree. I think Michael Schumacher will probably have more pole positions in 2003 than 2002," the International Automobile Federation (FIA) president told the BBC on Monday.
The changes have been introduced to spice up the sport, reduce Ferrari's dominance and revive flagging television viewing figures.
Ferrari won 15 of 17 races last season and Schumacher needs another 15 poles to equal the late Brazilian Ayrton Senna's record of 65.
Qualifying next year will be run on Friday and Saturday, with each driver getting just one fast lap in each session. The fastest on Friday starts last the next day with the Saturday time alone dictating grid order.
Mosley revealed that the FIA had considered far more radical ideas for qualifying and denied that the FIA had sidestepped the issue of making racing more exciting.
"There is a lot of muddled thinking about improving the racing. We are told it should be easier to overtake. We agree," he said.
"To achieve this we need to change the cars as well as some of the circuits. This takes time, even if everyone agrees.
"The problem is that even if we were to completely solve the car/circuit problem, the basic structure of our events does not encourage close racing or overtaking.
"We spend two days finding out which car is fastest and then let it start at the front. So how is the car behind going to catch it, much less overtake it? Slipstreaming races are, after all, a thing of the past.
"We thought carefully about giving the same points for qualifying as for the race and then reversing the first 10 places on the grid...but felt this was probably a step too far at the moment."
Mosley confirmed that there was no way back for the axed Belgian Grand Prix next year and laid the blame squarely at the door of local politicians for introducing a ban on tobacco advertising from next August.
The FIA wants to ban such advertising from 2007.
"The Belgian politicians should have waited until 2006. What they have done will not reduce tobacco publicity, not even in Belgium, where everybody can go on seeing tobacco sponsorship on television from outside the country," said Mosley.
"All they have achieved is to damage the local Belgian economy and deprive Formula One fans of a good circuit."
