There are growing concerns over Saturday's initial qualifying session in Monaco with team bosses and drivers all warning it could be a chaotic affair.
The FIA has been asked to split the 20-minute session as 24 cars making their way around the narrow streets of Monaco could be difficult but teams admit they are not hopeful that motor sport's governing body will agree to the request.
If the FIA do stick to their guns, then Q1 will be interesting, to say the least.
Lewis Hamilton has warned that "it could be a disaster".
"I lapped (Virgin's Lucas) di Grassi four times yesterday [in Spain]. That's one of the biggest gaps I've had in Formula One," the McLaren driver said.
His team boss Martin Whitmarsh has echoed his comments and says the stewards could be in for a busy time after qualifying.
"I think Q1 in Monaco will be very, very difficult and it's difficult for all of the cars," he said during a Vodafone teleconference.
"At the moment we have to accept that there are six cars that are very difficult to avoid. They have been in the order of six-seven seconds slower and when you're trying to open a gap you have cars behind you so you can't back off, and it's a circuit where you're going to catch cars and a circuit at which it's very difficult for those cars to get out of the way, even if they want to.
"The slowest cars will do the lap, presumably staring in their mirrors, which I'm sure is distracting for them. Even if they see something, trying to respond to it is going to be very difficult, even if they're on a slow lap, let alone a fast one.
"I think it's very difficult. By choice, I'd advocate that we divided it up somehow, either by splitting the field in half so you reduce the number of cars and don't have to manage the space quite so on such a small track, or you have a session if you thought perhaps unkindly that the six slower cars were going to fight it out among themselves, that they have the first five minutes to themselves, decided on order of merit, before the rest of the cars get onto the track.
"It's always been difficult, but with more cars and a greater performance differential, there will be controversy. There are some, and I'm not one of them, who think that controversy and stewards' hearings after the event are entertaining. I don't share that view, but it's what some people believe."
Ferrari's Felipe Massa says qualifying will become a bit of a lottery on Saturday.
"Getting the car to work as well as possible on Saturday afternoon will be even more important than usual, because if traffic has always been a problem at this race, with four more cars out on track at the same time this year, and without wishing to be too critical, I would say six rather slow cars out on track, Q1 can become a lottery," he said on the Ferrari website.
"No doubt we will use a different strategic approach to qualifying, maybe fuelling the car to do a few more laps than usual, to have a safety margin, so that you are not left without a competitive time in Q1."
Red Bull boss Christian Horner says it's "the most worrying aspect" of the weekend.
"It's about getting a lap that is sufficiently clear to post a time to get through. Unfortunately, in terms of statistics, there will be a car every 140 metres if they all run, and there's obviously a big difference in pace between the cars.
"The worst thing will be when you come round into Rascasse every lap and there is a queue of five cars. One way of looking at it is maybe you run for the full 20 minutes in the hope of getting a clear run."
Renault's team manager Steve Nielsen says some of the big names could miss out on Q2.
"I think it's first qualifying that everybody is dreading, with 24 cars out on track and some big performance differentials between the fastest and slowest. The challenge will just be to get a clear lap. But it will be a real lottery, and some big names could easily go out in Q1."
