The split decision was right

Force India's German driver Adrian Sutil negotiates the streets of Monte Carlo during practice yesterday.

Monaco is an absolute one-off on the Formula One calendar and one thing I am very happy about as we look forward to the weekend is that they have not changed the qualifying format. There had been talk in Spain that there would be split sessions with the slower cars taking part in different runs away from the faster guys to try and keep the track clear with 24 drivers in the field. Qualifying is always important but in Monaco it is crucial there as it is all but impossible to overtake in the race unless the car ahead makes a mistake. When I heard they were thinking of making changes to qualifying I thought it was absolutely ridiculous. I remember when you had 26 cars on the grid. There was still a big gap between the top teams and the slower cars in terms of pace and qualifying was tough everywhere, but particularly in Monaco, where the roads are tight and the barriers are close in and there is often only one line into each corner. With 26 cars, it was always difficult to find space for a clear lap, but that was where the skill came in to it for the drivers. You would have your engineer watching for gaps, and you would be in your car looking at the timing monitors waiting for an opening to get out on to a clear track without any traffic. It was part of the challenge of qualifying. It wasn't just about being fast, but also about knowing when to time your runs to find space to show your maximum speed. I remember when I was first racing, Ayrton Senna was the master of qualifying. He would nearly always leave it until late, go out with around two and a half minutes to go, and even though the track was busy he would always find a gap and blast around and take pole position. Getting baulked or being slowed by another car is a fact of life in Formula One. Unfortunately it is motorsport, you do not have the track to yourself and these sort of things will happen. I cannot think of any other series in Europe that has split qualifying so I am glad that the Formula One teams have seen sense and kept it the same for tomorrow's qualifying session. Monaco is a favourite for virtually every Formula One driver as it is such an exhilarating experience. It is like doing the ultimate qualifying lap 78 times during the race because you can never truly relax as every corner brings a challenge and you cannot afford to make a mistake. There are barriers everywhere and you will see the drivers rub against them as they exit a corner as they try and get the maximum amount of speed. You get a real buzz as a driver from competing in Monaco and there are so many bits to the track that are memorable. There is the entrance and exit to the tunnel, and there is also the challenge of driving up the hill before swooping into Casino Square. It is a genuine challenge and that is why the drivers love it. Lewis Hamilton has taken a real shine to the place, and you could see last year how much Jenson Button enjoyed racing there as he won for the first time. My best performance was in 1996 when I finished third for Sauber. It was a memorable race as it was wet and only three cars finished. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who was my teammate, was behind me and when he realised he could not finish in the top three he pitted and stopped on the final lap due to a problem, leaving only myself, race winner Olivier Panis and David Coulthard as the three finishers. On current form I think it is difficult to look beyond the Red Bulls again for Sunday's race, but I think that they will be pushed hard by the McLaren-Mercedes drivers. Both Hamilton and Button have won in Monte Carlo before and should be competitive so look for them to challenge. Fernando Alonso knows his way around Monaco too, having won there in 2006 and 2007, but I do not feel the Ferrari quite has the speed for him to be a winner. But he managed to finish in second in Spain with a slower car than the Red Bull and McLaren packages so it is not impossible for him to achieve a good result. Johnny Herbert is a former Formula One driver who competed in 161 races, winning three times [e-mail]