Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Monza, 2020

Bottas: “I’m not sure now happy Red Bull is” with quali mode ban

2020 Italian Grand Prix

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Valtteri Bottas suggested Red Bull won’t be happy with the outcome of F1’s ban on the use of ‘quali modes’ after qualifying at Monza.

The Mercedes drivers swept the front row of the grid for the Italian Grand Prix, while the highest Red Bull could only manage fifth on the grid.

“The car felt good, the engine felt good,” said Bottas, who qualified second. “Like I said before, it should be even better in the race.”

“So I’m not sure how happy Red Bull is now with this engine change,” he added.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said before the race weekend he hoped the ‘quali mode’ ban wouldn’t “make it worse” for his team.

On Thursday Lewis Hamilton said he found it “amusing” Red Bull had pushed for a ban on the use of high-performance engine modes.

Speaking after taking pole position for this weekend’s race Hamilton said: “I don’t even think we ever had a ‘party mode’. That’s something someone else made up.”

Asked whether he had noted any change in the performance of his car in qualifying since the last race weekend he replied: “But who knows if we even used that mode in Spa anyways?”

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2020 Italian Grand Prix

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25 comments on “Bottas: “I’m not sure now happy Red Bull is” with quali mode ban”

  1. There is no point in flogging the dead horse.

    1. “Yeah Lewis, you don’t even have a party mode. It’s just you drive so good that you beat everyone else.”

      I’m sure that’s what he wants to hear.

    2. Ferrari might veto that suggestion!

    3. When it comes to dead bull it’s ok then. Horse died last year.

      1. Lol, love it.

      2. Some never mention horses but donkeys

  2. Well, we don’t know where they would stand if we did have a party mode. I think we’re gonna see different outcomes on more regular tracks.

    1. This is the most engine dependant track of them all.
      If the quali mode ban was to make a difference anywhere, it’s Monza.

      1. @sham Bahrain outer loop layout could challenge Monza in this regard.

      2. Yes, but again we don’t know what the difference would be with party mode. All Racing Point, McLaren and Renault cars might have been ahead of the Red Bulls. Monza has never been Red Bulls track, they’ve always lacked pace in quali.

        We also don’t know what pace all cars can drive tomorrow. We might see some teams that need to keep the revs low or can use less battery per lap than other cars.

      3. @sham just to clarify, the quali mode has not been banned. The engine mode is still available. What is banned, however, is switching engine modes. So quali mode is still available, but the impact on reliability means that no team will use it.

        Monza being the most engine dependent circuit on the calendar means that teams will be tempted to turn the engines up more than they would at other circuits and accept the risk to reliability, meaning that the rule change has less of an impact as mercedes will still be at the front.

        At less power-hungry circuits, teams wont see the benefit of turning the engines up so will run more conservatively, leading to a wider delta between the quali mode and the engine mode used.

  3. Horner is a complete tool never moaned when red bull dominated with Flexi wings etc….lap it up

    1. So apparently Mercedes never had a ‘party mode’…. if true that would be so funny. Redbull: Let’s ban what we have, (what it turns out, they never had.)

    2. Could not agree more! Although Arrivabene can join this proverbial tool box.

  4. Barry Bens (@barryfromdownunder)
    5th September 2020, 17:37

    Would be ironic if both Bottas’ and Hamiltons engine went up in a big dot of blue smoke tomorrow as a result. Let’s first see how much racepace they have more than Red Bull before jumping to conclusions. If Mercedes still drives away with several tens of secodns per lap, then sure, Red Bull done goofed themselves. Also means the rest of this season and the entirety of 2021 can be written off for them, but will at least make for a very interesting top of the midfield behind them. Mercedes will have absolutely wrecked the sport by becoming so dominant, but the other teams are the only ones to blame for that.

    At the same time, I did hear some interesting commentary about the entire new rule regarding partymode. Seems like you are allowed to turn it down, just not up anymore afetr doing so. So what if Mercedes drove the entire qualifying with the partymode on (or a slightly trimmed down version) and will still run the first two or three laps tomorrow using it, before turning it down. Basically still a partymode for qualifying and a ‘normal’ racing mode…

    1. Are you expecting things to change on race day? Why?

    2. Could happen, but only if they start racing each other. If they drive to preserve their engines they’ll be fine. After the Silverston’s blowout, this may mean team orders.

      1. @barryfromdownunder, let’s see if you can find the contradiction in the statement, “ Mercedes will have absolutely wrecked the sport by becoming so dominant, but the other teams are the only ones to blame for that.”

  5. This is probably the first time any team member from mercedes acknowledges how superior the car is LOL

  6. Have to chuckle at Lewis’s ‘we never even called it party mode, someone else did’ when he coined the phrase

  7. Proof reader required at aisle 3

  8. @keithcollantine typo on “how/now” on the title?

  9. Bottas needs to realise that his championship title fight isn’t with Red Bull it’s against his own team mate.

  10. Speaking after taking pole position for this weekend’s race Hamilton said: “I don’t even think we ever had a ‘party mode’. That’s something someone else made up.”

    I think that was Toto.

    https://www.racefans.net/2018/03/24/hamilton-use-mercedes-party-mode-q3-wolff-confirms/

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