No sooner had the Friday qualifying ended that all the teams and drivers began thinking about their strategies for tomorrow afternoon’s grid-deciding session.

When the FIA first introduced the rule for “one lap” qualifying the situation was straightforward, with every driver having just one lap to get the most out of his car’s performance. However, a late amendment to the rule stated that cars must start Sunday’s race without adding to the fuel remaining in the car at the end of qualifying.

This means that Saturday’s qualifying is effectively an extension of the race and drivers must decide how much fuel to take on board. For the 3 laps required to set a time, on an average circuit, cars must carry 10 kilos of fuel. However, they must now also carry at least enough to complete the lap required to take up position on the race grid, the race formation lap and the first lap. This means every car will have to carry a minimum of between 20 and 25 kilos on Saturday afternoon.

The general consensus is that most teams will opt to qualify with sufficient fuel to run a normal two-stop race. If one considers that on an average circuit, every 10 kilos of fuel adds around four tenths of a second to a lap time, this will be a key element in deciding the final order on the grid. It is quite possible that one or two of the smaller teams might opt to qualify with a minimum fuel load, planning to stop after the opening laps of the race, simply to guarantee some media and TV exposure by qualifying much higher up the grid than usual.

It is a fascinating scenario as Rubens Barrichello explained: “It is a nice feeling to be quickest today and it is good for morale,” said the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver. “But it does not mean that much and Saturday’s qualifying will be much more difficult. Every aspect will have to be right from the set-up of the car, to the tyres and the fuel strategy. And the driver only has one chance to get it right.”