3
Lewis Hamilton has opened up on the recent banning of engine 'party modes' in qualifying, saying he found it amusing that Red Bull admitted to being the team pushing for the ban.
The qualifying ban is set to come into effect at this weekend's Italian Grand Prix, which will see teams unable to use special qualifying modes on their cars during the session, taking away the advantage from different power units.
Speaking in the drivers' press conference on Thursday, Hamilton explained how he found the decision amusing, as well as hoping that it will not affect Mercedes in the long term.
“I find it kind of amusing, because the FIA said that it was so they could manage everyone’s usage of the engine, or something like that, and then Red Bull came and said ‘we were the ones pushing for it’. So there’s completely different reasons why they did it,” Hamilton said.
“Hopefully the guys back in the factory are looking at is as a compliment that they’ve done just a fantastic job with the engine. We will continue to work and improve with the situation that we’re given. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.”
“Everyone’s potentially going to lose something but maybe some more than others. No one particularly knows, I think. But I don’t think it’s going to be a problem for us.”
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen also spoke on the ban, saying that he enjoys being able to manage the engine performance in the session, but the ban will give the team 'one less worry' in terms of reliability.
“I like, personally, being able to control when you use some of the life of the engine and when you save it,” he said.
“That’s kind of been a strength of mine in terms of saving engine mileage through the year, making the engine last longer.
“If they take that away it means we have to worry less about switching over to anything else.”
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
749,550 comments on Red Bull Racing
968 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Max Verstappen
613,587 comments on Mercedes 57 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Mercedes
Replies (3)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
sure you do Hammy, because the car is AFAEK OP anyway. But if it actually does bring you down a peg while bettering everyone's reliability it is good for everyone.
Snooky
Posts: 121
I’d like to see KERS return while keeping the ban On engine modes, think it’ll just add a bit of fighting during the race while also allowing for a consistent engine mode during the race. Let the drivers control the battery power again, not the strategists and engine engineers
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
KERS is still here, it's just called MGU-K these days. And the drivers CAN control power modes.