A "party mode" in Mercedes F1 engine? Lando Norris rebuffs Lewis Hamilton's theory

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton suggested his longtime Formula 1 team, Mercedes, may still benefit from a “party mode” in qualifying – a theory McLaren’s Lando Norris rebuffed.

Mercedes was comfortably fastest in all three qualifying sessions so far this year, with the Silver Arrows always increasing the gap to the competition throughout qualifying – nearly six tenths on average so far in Q3.

For Hamilton, this was evocative of his time at Mercedes. The Silver Arrows were fitted with an aggressive engine map for qualifying from 2018 onwards, which the Briton himself dubbed ‘party mode’.

“Our quali mode is the most fun mode – it should be the ‘party mode’,” Hamilton said ahead of the 2018 Australian Grand Prix. “It is the most power and has the most juice, and it's when we hit the highest speeds.”

Halfway through the 2020 season, the FIA clamped down on changing engine settings during qualifying and the race. This remains the case to this day, with Article C5.23 of the technical regulations stating: “The power unit must be operated in a single ICE mode during each competitive lap in all sessions of a Competition, with the exception of free practice sessions.”

Still, Hamilton believes Mercedes may have found a way for its engine to deliver more power when it matters.

Asked after Chinese Grand Prix qualifying if the gap to Mercedes being smaller in races than in qualifying was down to energy approach or tyre management, Hamilton replied: “I was with Mercedes for a long, long time, so I know how it works there. In qualifying they have another mode that they're able to go to, a bit like a ‘party mode’ back in the day, and once they get to Q2 they switch that on, and we don't have that.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

“And then in the race they obviously don't have that mode, so they still obviously have an advantage overall. We've got to figure out what that is, but there's something more they're able to extract, particularly in Q2. You see in Q1 we're not that far away, and then all of a sudden it's like a huge step. A tenth in Q1 behind, I think it was, and then all of a sudden it's seven tenths or another half a second. It's a big step.”

But this theory was quickly shut down by Norris when it was brought up to the McLaren-Mercedes driver.

“We don't have that,” the reigning world champion declared. Asked if he thought Mercedes did have it, Norris replied: “No. Sometimes when you're a bit off you create things in your head.”

Additional reporting by Oleg Karpov