The World Motor Sport Council met in Paris on March 24, 2004. The following decision was taken:

FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPQualifyingApproved the following changes to the current qualifying format as from the Bahrain Grand Prix:the pre-qualifying session will begin at 13.00 local time;qualifying for the grid will begin at 14.00 local time;other sessions on Saturday will also be one hour earlier.