Wolff claims Hamilton did use 'party mode' in Q3
- Published on 25 Mar 2018 03:12
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says that Lewis Hamilton did in fact use a boosted engine mode throughout Q3. Hamilton stormed to pole position in Melbourne on Saturday, setting a time that was six-tenths of a second ahead of the field.
In the press conference following the session, Hamilton and rival Sebastian Vettel were involved in an exchange of words after the Briton said: "I can assure you we don’t have a party mode. I used the same mode from Q2 to end of Q3. So there was no extra mode that I engaged."
But now Wolff says that Hamilton did have an extra power boost in the session, but doesn't believe it counted towards the six-tenths Hamilton managed to find throughout the lap.
"There is a party mode in the car, we switched the party mode on in Q3," Wolff confirmed. "There was no difference from the first run in Q3 to the second run in Q3, he just said that he had a great lap, pulled it all together, carried more speed through the apexes.”
"The gap was down to Lewis Hamilton putting in a lap with the grip level that he didn’t seem to be able to extract before. Everything was in the sweet spot, I guess. There wasn’t any difference in modes."
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Replies (9)
Login to replyFatMike
Posts: 153
not saying hamilton is not a great driver but with 7 tenth ahead just because of a button defo puts these "victories" into perspective. Basically it was nothing special....no matter how they try to sell it to f1 fans:)
RogerF1
Posts: 501
,,,and sets the scene for the season that Merc have power in hand so don’t need to flog the engines in race pace and reap the reliability.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Big surprise... But that Party Mode didnt really help much while following the Terminator, did it?
xoya
Posts: 583
No shit...
f1ski
Posts: 726
more interesting to me is how well the ferrari did in the beginning of the race following. The mere didn't seem as happy following
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Why does this matter? If Mercedes has a special quali mode then Ferrari should have developed one. Renault should have developed one. We've been talking about this for years now. Suggesting that somehow it diminishes Hamilton's accomplishments in qualifying is also stupid. It's not as if Bottas got pile whenever Hamilton fell short.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
APJ, nobody likes Captain Hindsight. :P
'sides Im pretty sure everyone else have tried and failed to implement a quali mode. Remember: Mercedes are about a season ahead of the rest in terms of engine development. And I dont think that'll change in another while. And well, while it leaves Hamilton's performance as less impressive when he can literally just press a button and say, "LuL I win gg", it sorta plays down Bottas' performance even further. As I've said before, we might've underestimated Rosberg.
mclarenfan1968
Posts: 1,027
Butthurt detected!
It obviously matters because it shows what several have already realized way back that turd face is nothing more than hype and hot air without an extremely quick car that the next monkey can also win with. When he couldn't do shit against the supreme Alonso, he then had to use the race card, lol wut? He cant win fair and square against Alonso in a Mclaren because 'he is black'? What an idiot this dipshit is and he got roundly kick in the gonads yesterday after all that trash talking with Vettel in the post-qualifying interview. That was gold when the SCD came out with Vettel profiting from that. Deal with it dipshit fanbois and while you morons are at it ask you golden boy to shut his trap and focus on the racing instead of spitting the dummy, savvy? XD
boudy
Posts: 1,168
It's all smoke and daggers.... why would you inform your competition that you're really best part of a second in front. It reminds me of the way that Senna, he had a turbo button provided by Honda that others did not have. Did Bottas have this mode? Or Williams/FI? The FIA should come down on these inconsistencies. Also does this mode consist of oil-burning?
It looks like Hamilton will win again this year.