Formula One's governing body confirmed rule changes on Thursday that will shorten qualifying by five minutes from this weekend's French Grand Prix.
The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement that a proposal to abolish the use of third drivers in Friday practice from 2007 had also been carried by a fax vote of its World Motor Sport Council.
With the change, the third and final part of the knockout qualifying format involving the 10 fastest cars will be reduced from 20 minutes to 15.
The abolition of the third drivers is part of wider plans to condense the three-day race weekend into two days with Friday becoming an open test session.
That would have the double merit of giving fans, who currently see few of the top drivers on track in Friday free practice, more for their money while reducing costs for teams by slashing the amount of testing done elsewhere.
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