Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Circuit de Catalunya, 2020

Technical directive bans ‘quali modes’ from Italian GP

2020 Italian Grand Prix

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A new technical directive banning the use of ‘quali modes’ from the Italian Grand Prix was issued to Formula 1 teams today.

As RaceFans revealed yesterday, the introduction of the ban has been delayed by one race. It was originally supposed to come into effect from next weeks’ Belgian Grand Prix.

Under the directive teams will be required to run their engines in the same power mode during qualifying and the race.

In technical directive reference number 37, the FIA advised teams how it will enforce several technical and sporting regulations from the eighth round of the world championship. These include article 2.7 of the technical regulations, concerning how teams demonstrate their cars comply with the rules; article 27.1 of the sporting regulations, which governs ‘driver aids’; and appendix four of the sporting regulations, on teams requesting power unit changes to address reliability concerns.

Technical directives are commonly used to clarify areas of the regulations. However last weekend some teams were at odds over whether they could be used to enforce the rules.

“TDs aren’t really the law,” said Racing Point CEO Otmar Szafnauer, “so I don’t know where that’s going.”

However Haas team principal Guenther Steiner is certain the directive is legally binding.

“For me that’s a law,” he said in response to a question from RaceFans. “We got caught out by a technical directive a few races ago [in Hungary] when we pitted on the formation lap.

“So I don’t think we can go up and down with that one. If somebody’s challenging for sure the FIA will have an answer. But for me a technical directive is a law.”

Both Haas cars were also disqualified from the 2018 Italian Grand Prix when the team was found to have violated a technical directive concerning floor dimensions.

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88 comments on “Technical directive bans ‘quali modes’ from Italian GP”

  1. Well, now we desperately need someone to go through that TD and explain to us what this ban actually means. What is banned, what is not n and what will teams / manufacturers do about it.

    1. Technical directives are not available to the public I think

      1. @socksolid It seems you are right.. this is the only source but without TD.
        https://www.fia.com/documents/season/season-2020-1059

  2. So does this mean that during a race, they cannot ‘turn their engine up’ to catch up/overtake the driver in front now (or similarly ‘turn it down’ if they are miles in front to protect the engine) ?

    1. No there is nothing about that. Only that the modes uses in Qualiflier must be used in the Race. Simple said if they use the Q3 mode for 1 rounds in the race technical rule is abided.

      1. AJ (@asleepatthewheel)
        21st August 2020, 13:59

        So if teams use all modes in qualifying during the outlap, inlap, and q laps, that solves the problem?

        1. Whichever is the “fastest” mode used in qualifying will be the mode used in the race. Simple.

      2. Simple said if they use the Q3 mode for 1 rounds in the race technical rule is abided.

        Sorry, @macleod, but that is wrong AFAIK. The driver will have to use the same mode throughout quali and race (i.e. single mode).
        The directive determines that changing engine mode is seen as a driver aid, which is prohibited according to the rules. The driver can only use his/her right foot to change the input to the PU.

        PS it is unlikely to be the ‘fastest’ mode as suggested by @greenflag, as no engine is built to deliver that mode throughout a race, and it might also be ‘inefficient’ as it depletes the battery by the end rather than saving some ‘juice’ for the next start/finish straight.

        1. @coldfly If that is indeed what this means, then this is a very welcome change in my opinion

          1. Jamie B, is it really a welcome change?

            From what some are saying, it sounds as if the FIA has managed to heavily overcomplicate the process of monitoring the engines even more than it is now. They now need to monitor a far greater number of variables – a number of which they don’t currently have a mechanism for doing so – and seem to have ended up making it far more complicated to monitor what the engines are doing than the current situation.

            In that sense, it sounds like the FIA has failed in a number of its objectives – it’s made the sport much more complicated to run – making a mockery of their claims they were “simplifying the process of policing the power units” – and seems to be having a negative impact on costs as well.

            Even the hope of trying to “level the field” might turn up to be a mistake – there are some suggestions that Honda are the ones who need to do the most work to comply with it (which has relit the rumours that Honda’s ERS was coming under scrutiny from the FIA in late 2019 and the start of this year), so it might be that this change ends up putting Red Bull further back in the field, rather than closer to the front.

            Overall, there seem to be a fair number of negatives that are coming from what seems to be a somewhat ill-thought out measure that I am fairly sure will only end up coming to bite those who insisted on the change. Whenever changes like this have been rushed through in the past in F1, they’ve usually ended up backfiring…

        2. You misunderstood me. Whatever the fastest mode that the team uses in qualifying will be the mode used in the race. Need not be the outright fastest mode, just the fastest on actually used in qualifying. For example, if a team uses a a very safe engine mode for their fastest qualifying time then that’s the mode that they will race with.

  3. I’m curious to see how it can be policed. Also I think that the first thing a team can do is to just wait until one of the cars is in bad racing position (ex.Leclerc in Spain) and to give instructions about changing modes. And then to see what happens.

    1. I’m curious to see how it can be policed.

      As all teams have standard ECU, I’m sure they can check it there. The only input to the PU (re. desired power output) should now come from the driver’s right foot.
      @venedikov

  4. So, Mercedes can’t just turn the engines up in qualifying and blow away the field to the tune of a second and in the race can’t just disappear for 10 laps and turn the engine down to save it anymore? Well that’s nice. But it also means the others can’t do that either, so any performance gains Honda, Renault or Ferrari have are now gone. Their reliability hasn’t been as good as the Mercedes PU’s either so in the race this is probably going to burn them more. Horrible feeling that if this was an attempt to break Mercedes advantage it’s only going to achieve solidifying it and actually slow their competitors more.

    1. The way I see it even with 0.5 sec clipped they still get a 1-2 lockout. And that’s positing honda don’t have a party mode either (we know Renault has a strat mode 7). So if they can convert it in slightly better race pace AND an out of place honda or MC laren or RP can’t turn it up and hope the engine holds to keep the out of place Merc at bay…. It won’t bother Merc one bit. RP and Williams though… I guess only clear winners will be Ferrari and to a lesser extent Haas and Alpha Romeo. I don’t see the Ferrari customers becoming regular point scorers but ferrari might be able to hold on to top 3 if indeed they do not have a party mode in place.

      1. Interesting related question: If Williams and RP have the same PU with the same software then why do they show the same pace loss to Merc in Q2 and Q3 as everyone else? Were they really not invited to the party? Or is there a misunderstanding about where Merc’s advantage really comes from?

        1. I’d like to know more about that too. However I believe RP have indeed a gain in speed from q1 to q2 whereas Williams probably gives it all in Q1 already. I think it’s really visible for Merc as they don’t feel compelled to whick it up until q3.

          1. @tango Are we sure that MB even go full wick in Q3? I wouldn’t given their performance advantage, simply no reward in respect to higher grid slots for significant reliability risk.

            I wondered this when I saw their Q3 time at Barcelona was slower than last year but there are likely many other variables that may affect relative performance so can’t be certain.

        2. Simple, their aero package (even including last year’s BD’s on the RP) and still (relatively) atrocious compared to Mecr. Think back to when McLaren were looking forward to getting Renault engines as McLaren were convinced it was the engines that were letting them down. Then performed even worse.

          1. That explains why teams with the same engine are slower than the works teams. It doesn’t explain why Merc, as well as having a growing gap over everyone else in Q2 & Q3, also has a growing gap to RP when they both use the exact same power unit with the exact same modes available.

        3. Most likely RP uses the better engine modes in Q2 so they have a greater chance to enter Q3. The use of these modes is really limited, once Lance used a lap of more power in practice and he could not use it in the qualifications.
          @pdduggan

          1. That’s very interesting. I did not know that. Where was that reported?

    2. Most think it will favour Mercedes. It doesn’t matter if Mercedes get pole by a secon or a tenth. Qualifying modes have not been banned, what they are saying is whatever engine mode you use in qualifying, you have to use during the race. Therefore if a team used their qualifying mode they would have to use that mode in the race, no team can do that. What will happen is Mercedes will turn their engine down in qualifying, but it will be higher than they would normally use during the race. This makes them more dominant. Drivers won’t be able to turn their engines up to aid overheating and / or strategies like under cutting other cars. It all equals more boring racing.

  5. The German Auto Motor und Sport states that from qualifying until the end of the race the engines have to run in a single power mode, with the exception of slow laps, like the formation lap, laps behind a safety car, in and outlaps in qualifying, etc.

    An overtake mode is still allowed and power modes can differ between races.

    From the third engine onwards all teams with the same engine must run in the same power mode in a race.

    1. From the third engine onwards all teams with the same engine must run in the same power mode in a race.

      Wait what? That could really punish the works teams – appart from Ferrari i guess.

    2. @silfen Not saying this info is wrong but I’d be surprised from what I’ve read if overtake mode is still allowed. Isn’t that just another type of engine mode? If so, won’t they just use that as much as they can during qualifying? I thought the FIA’s justification for this was that they couldn’t properly monitor the use of different engine modes, so having overtake available as an engine mode goes against that reasoning.

      1. As i remember correctly the overtake button unleashes the ERS in addition to the power output of the ICE.

        1. Hiland (@flyingferrarim)
          21st August 2020, 14:48

          that is correct… overtake is just the push to pass of the ERS which is not a power mode. I think a good way to define power mode is strictly speaking to engine mappings and is unrelated to ERS, DRS, and fuel mixture. In a nut shell, I don’t believe it will impact “passing” that much, which was suggested by Lewis previously. But time will tell. I’m still interested in learning how the FIA is going to police this!

        2. I don’t think there is an agreed definition of what “the overtake button” does exactly, it is just a term commonly used to describe an action. It probably releases everything they got for a short boost of power unit performance, within reasonable limits, but what exactly that is probably varies between engine manufacturers. And possibly even between teams with the same power unit, they should have the same software available but are free to use or not use the different aspects of it.

          1. Hiland (@flyingferrarim)
            21st August 2020, 15:55

            ERS is pretty well defined. This system is used in two ways and one is applying “the overtake button”. No other system is used but the energy stored in the battery for this. It’s main purpose is and was meant for overtaking. Now teams do have control over ERS usage throughout the race (team = pitlane) as the ERS charges the batteries throughout the race (I believe there are limits on charge rates). Since the batteries are always charging, the team optimizes the usage based on strategy and so on to help with race pace or gaping. With that said, the driver does have a button they can press to essentially “override” the teams setting (i think there is a time limit) for a burst of power when they need it to attempt overtakes or even for defending. ERS is only used in the race and practices. But can not be used in qualifying.

      2. @keithedin the overtake mode is only allowed in the race. Forgot to mention that.

    3. @silfen as not all customers use the same fuel and lubricants that sounds like a recipe for exploding customer units with reduced reliability as the engines are tuned for only the works team.

  6. So now they will have an adjustable throttle stop under the pedal instead, or remove it for qualy, job done with a single map :)

    1. Any system that allows the driver to find specific points of throttle input is already banned, if I recall correctly.

      1. Tachometer markings for various predetermined maximum speeds – race start, overtaking/defending, fuel saving, pit lane, etc., will remind the driver what’s best for the engine.

  7. Does this mean they need to use the same engine mapping for qualy and race? What about driving to the grid or the formation lap?

  8. Why has this move come now mid season?

    I do wonder if this hasn’t got something to do with the secret FIA deal with Ferrari. They have lost so much power. Was that power a special engine mode?

    Is this an attempt to compensate Ferrari for that loss, an attempt to ‘level the playing field’ by leaving the field as it is but attempting to handicap some of the players?

    1. Just in time for the Italian gp where the pressure on Ferrari will be huge? No, I honestly can’t see why the FIA would do that…

    2. Hiland (@flyingferrarim)
      21st August 2020, 15:04

      I will start out saying that I am against this “mid-season” change. I am not a fan of reg changs mid season unless of course it is for safety concerns. I think this may have kicked off because of the difference between qually and race. Merc have been around a full second quicker than the next fastest team in qualifying. Then you go to the race and RBR (max specifically) is able to keep Merc within site. I think this performance difference has been turning heads and makes the sport look silly tbh. Also, any of the Merc powered cars (RP and Williams) all qualify well but each team slips back in the race. I also believe that the tech in these engines are way over the heads of the FIA atm and they themselves can not properly police what is going on. Just look at the Ferrari PU situation from last season.

      I think the FIAs purpose IS to reel in Merc a little. Now, I don’t think this ban is going to mount to different results tbh. Merc has a superior car over everyone else that they will still be taking home the hardware. Max maybe the only competitor that could possibly mix it up a little bit with them at some tracks. If anything this will impact Williams and RP negatively far more.

      1. Redbull are able to keep pace with Mercedes because Mercedes don’t need to push during a race. They need to look after the tyres and save fuel. Just pook at the spanish gp when Hamilton needed to push he could and was well faster than verstappan

        1. Hiland (@flyingferrarim)
          21st August 2020, 20:20

          Ok? It doesn’t mean that Redbull can’t compete at their level from time to time (see Silverstone). Max has also split the two Mercs once already as well. I agree that Merc have the best overall car in pretty much every aspect (most races with them just managing their pace). I believe I noted/implied that Merc will not be impacted much with the ban but also noted that RBR “could”/”maybe” mix it up with them at times. I’m not sure what your defending or arguing from my original statement.

          1. @flyingferrarim

            Max has also split the two Mercs once already as well

            Bottas has had a bad start twice yes. And Bottas had a poor Q3 in Hungary.

            Williams were struggling for race pace, but for Spain they claimed that had improved on that, but it looked like their Q1 pace suffered also.

            We’ll see what happens.

      2. Formula one is the only sport on the planet that introduces rules in the middle of a contest to reign in a better performing opponent. can you imagine if every other sport did that.. lets say in football halfway in the season or game you say goalkeeper should be only to move on one leg ..or the strikers are not allowed to run with the ball ..or in boxing.. the boxers can only use one arm to box and the other to defend or in 100 meter dash.. no running with eyes open last 50 meters…
        this FIA governing body is insanely a law unto themselves its ridiculous ..that’s my take

    3. There are a couple of reasons as stated by the FIA

      1) it is increasingly impossible to police the use of all engine mappings, which may or may not all be legal. There are some suspicions that one or more teams use more power from the ERS system than is allowed. Hence also the requested information from the teams about the use of the ERS systems.

      2) Telling a driver which mappings to use is not ‘driving the car alone and unaided’. So, while it is easy to forbid this form of communication, that is not good for the engines. Instead they opt to limit the changes of power modes, so it will have the same effect without endangering yhe engine.

      1. It is only impossible to police because the FIA will not mandate standard software which could prevent extreme settings from being used.
        I want 11
        Computer says no

    4. Witan, from what gt-racer – whom I believe is connected with the sport – has indicated in the past, some of it is apparently due to questions over monitoring the sport, but it seems the main reason he’d heard being discussed was that the FIA and Liberty Media were hoping that it might act as a handicap for Mercedes and act as a performance levelling mechanism (i.e. the argument of “policing the sport” seemed to be more about trying to find a justification to attempt to hobble them).

      That said, given the rushed way this has been introduced, I am extremely willing to bet that there will be some unintended consequences that will end up backfiring on them.

      1. @Anon as always you’ve summarised it pretty well.

        This seems to be nothing more than a clumsy attempt at penalising Mercedes for being better at what they do than the other PU manufacturers.

        Rushed, Ill conceived – what could possibly go wrong…..

      2. @ anon I guess the only other alternative was FIA and Liberty Media finding a way to legally compel Mercedes to sign Verstappen alongside Hamilton and having some actual competition that way! I agree that this engine mode regulation seems primarily an attempt to curb Mercedes speed, and I also agree that it seems likely to fail, at least in terms of improving competition, quite likely to cement Mercedes race advantage over Red Bull and do little to stop them qualifying 1-2. So that’s what seems so weird. If they wanted to throw a spanner in Mercedes works, the vulnerable area is obvious: tyres. It’s always been the Mercedes weak point. Just insist on tyres that cause them issues more than other teams. So ultimately I think this measure is less about stopping Mercedes from winning by a big margin, and more about making Ferrari’s engine customers a bit happier by slowing down their midfield competition, while maybe helping Ferrari into third place at least.

        1. @david-br messing around with the tyre allocations is a bit of a risky strategy though, because you cannot be sure that it will not backfire by causing issues for the grid as a whole, not just Mercedes. If you think back to times when a similar situation applied, the 2013 tyres that had the more flexible side wall construction might have held back Red Bull, but they also held back other teams – Sauber was probably the worst hit team in the field, hence their dramatic improvement in performance as soon as they changed the tyres.

          With the 70th Anniversary GP, it took a very unusual set of circumstances to disrupt Mercedes – not just the high temperatures, but also Pirelli increasing the inflation pressures significantly (to 23.0psi front and 27.0psi for the rears), and not a lot of teams were that happy about the way that the tyres had been selected for that weekend.

          It is probably the case that there will be those who are nervous of the possibility of a “Silverstone 2013” event happening again if they were to do what they did there and to override Pirelli on tyre selection – the multiple tyre failures for different teams in that race resulted in a pretty big backlash against the sport.

  9. So Mercedes lose some qualifying performance – even if it’s 0.5 seconds relative to their rivals (who also have qualifying engine modes to some extent), they’ll still lock out the front row. Then they have extra performance in the race they can utilise without sacrificing reliability over what they have now. The only way it might hurt them is periods of the race where they previously used increased engine modes – race starts, safety car restarts, pitstop windows, and for overtakes/defence. But their improved race performance overall might more than compensate for that.

    So I don’t expect much change up front from this. I think it will be slightly detrimental to racing further down the field though, since no different engine modes means performance will be more balanced throughout the race. Which means less chance of differing performance during pit windows, and during on track battles – so probably less action overall.

    This seems like a knee-jerk reaction to Mercedes increased dominance this year, but time will tell whether it has any effect on that. The main beneficiaries might be Ferrari, if it’s true that they have essentially no qualifying modes any more, so perhaps they will struggle less in qualifying after this change.

    1. Another showing of Ferrari International Assistance??

      I don’t think Mercedes is showing any more performance gains than any team should do by developing their engine over the years, as can also be seen by the vast improvements Honda has made in both reliability and performance since rejoining the sport… even Renault seems to have improved…

      the only thing of note that has happened in the last year, has that Ferrari has been caught doing something underhand, told to stop and then lost loads of performance!

      Perhaps instead of restricting innovation and punishing teams who’ve invested and developed their technology legitimately the FIA should reveal exactly what Ferrari was doing, hence why the 3 teams that use their PU’s have lost performance!

      Just seems bizarre the “Pinnacle of Motorsport” is going backwards technically, rather than allowing development they are artificially trying to slow other teams down so Ferrari isn’t embarrassed by their lack of performance!!

    2. @keithedin This TD has the law of unintended consequences written all over it and you have summarised the likely outcomes very well. I bet MB have come to a similar conclusion to you, hence no murmurings of discontent.

  10. The knowledge of ECU mapping on here is hilarious!

  11. Why don’t you say that Mercedes and Honda asked the FIA to delay the TD one week further to be better prepared instead of implementing it immediately in SPA? Something to hide?

    1. Do you have a source for that claim?

        1. Both well respected web sites – no, wait, not well respected – the other thing.

          1. Who tf are you? Crawl back from the hole you came out

        2. Motorsport is fine, but I usually skip Franco Nugnes articles.

    2. They already had to give information to the FIA about the use of the ERS systems. Which probably is one of the reasons for this directive.

    3. Bio,
      Why would RaceFans refrains from publishing such info if they got hold of it ? Normally behind the scenes infos are published within those “special” Dieter articles. So either the info has not been available or expect it to be published later. Thanks for your patience !

  12. I am not sure about this “turn up” the engine thing

    Wouldn’t that result in a higher RPM?

    And isn’t there a “max RPM” already defined?

    I thought the cars already hit the max RPM stop on the long straights.

    So it is more about horsepower/torque delivered from the PU?

    1. Hiland (@flyingferrarim)
      21st August 2020, 15:11

      yes, but Merc could gear for it a little without impacting race day engine modes to drastically. Also, turning up the engine would allow the engine to get to “max” RPM sooner and run it longer on the rev limiter. Longer you ride on the limiter, that would result in less time obviously on straights (therefor your average speed is higher).

    2. @freguz Higher rpm doesn’t necessarily result in higher power output, it depends on the power curve. Actually with these engines I believe peak power output is at something like 10-11k rpm, after which the increased friction from the speed of the pistons, driveshaft and other components causes more losses, resulting in a lower power output. Remember, the ICE are capped at a limited fuel flow rate, so they can’t inject more fuel into the chamber to correspond to the increased rpm.

      So ‘turning the engine up’ in the context of engine modes might be to do with fuel flow (which while capped won’t always be at maximum) and deployment of the battery power, than anything related to rpm.

      1. Ok I see

        I saw this official F1 video where they (try to) explain this engine mode thing, and they do talk about higher RPM:s

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpeimUMBcyw

        What is the units on that Y axel you think?

        But I guess there is a rev limiter and that it is working as intended.

        1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          21st August 2020, 15:40

          @freguz thanks for sharing! great analysis, although the choice of colors for the graphs were a bit hard to tell apart:-)

          The big takeaway is that it will affect overtaking which means less overtakes. It also means more incidents since impossible overtakes will be attempted and more safety cars and “torpedo starts” to gain positions on the 1st lap.

        2. The units on that graph is rpm, with guidelines every 1000. Top of the scale is 13000, bottom is 6000. The massive difference he highlights at 2:25 is probably because he stayed in 7th for quali, but used 8th gear in the race.

        3. @freguz Hadn’t seen that video but it is interesting. It is rpm on the Y-axis, and shows higher peaks and some sustained high periods of 200-300 extra rpm in the qualifying mode compared to race mode. The X-axis is distance, basically showing that these overlays are a direct comparison for the same section of the track.

          I can think of two possible explanations for this. First one is simple – in qualifying mode the car is travelling at a higher speed, meaning if they are in the same gear in each overlay, then the engine has to be at a higher rpm to match the greater wheel speed. So that is more an effect of the higher power mode, than a cause of it. Second explanation is maybe in some sections the engine was below the rpm required for peak power output, so in qualifying mode the engine does rev up higher and generate more power as a result.

          I’m no expert in these things so happy to be corrected if any of my explanations are incorrect.

        4. @freguz That is such a poor analysis though. They don’t get to “use a bit more RPM” like he says, but the engine gets more power which means the car goes faster at the end of a straight and the RPM will be higher (since they use the same gear ratio’s for the whole weekend).

          Indeed it’s more about extra power from the engine at the same RPM. That youtube clip should have shown an acceleration line. That’s where the difference would be much more telling.

          The F1 cars come nowhere near a rev limit. I think the rev limit is at 15,000rpm, but they can only use fuel at a rate of 100kg/h, so there is no point in going that high. They usually peak out around 12,000rpm

    3. The current hybrid cars are allowed to rev to 15000, but practically never do as they shift up at around 12000. There are several reasons for it. The maximum allowed fuel flow rate is only allowed above 10000 rpm, so in short they must rev higher than that to achieve maximum power. But since they are turbo charged they can almost always get enough air into the engine to burn all that fuel, regardless of rpm. If they rev higher, they would have to distribute the same amount of fuel into a larger number of combustion cycles which would mitigate the benefit. Therefor higher rpm only means shorter lifespan of the engine. So, they rev high enough to get maximum power, but not any higher than to secure that they do not drop below 10000 rpm after a gear shift. At least that is the basics of it.

      Add to that, they have the exact same 8 gear ratios all through the season. On some tracks they don’t even use 8th, because the straights aren’t long enough or they need more downforce so they have too much drag to go that fast. They have to compromise. They probably rev higher than normal in 8th gear on the fastest circuits, like Spa, Monza and Mexico (with it’s high altitude low-drag air). Maybe they hit the rev limiter there, at least some teams.

      1. Small correction, it is actually 10500 rpm for the fuel flow regulation. @freguz
        “5.1.4 Fuel mass flow must not exceed 100kg/h.
        5.1.5 Below 10500rpm the fuel mass flow must not exceed Q (kg/h) = 0.009 N(rpm)+ 5.5.”

  13. The irony is no one questioned Ferrari’s now infamous party mode, it seems they’re to benifit from this new ruling? Who voted for this?

    Now if at the same time they increased the allocation of engines, we might see more risks taking on track
    with their engines by the various teams, leading to the entertaining specticle of more DNF’s, like they use to back in the day.

    1. Hiland (@flyingferrarim)
      21st August 2020, 15:17

      ?? What do you mean no one questioned Ferrari’s infamous party mode? There was no formal protest last year, but many inquiries launched that lead to Ferrari having “no” party/qualy mode this year (and the end of last season). So I’m not sure what the “irony” is you are talking about/referencing. Also, there is no “voting” as this is the FIA invoking a technical directive that requires no vote from the teams.

      1. well the fia effectively caught ferrari cheating last year and got away with it. Now they cant run qualifying modes without cheating its time for the fia too punish everyone else.

        1. Hiland (@flyingferrarim)
          21st August 2020, 20:04

          “the fia effectively caught ferrari cheating”? Hmm, where did you hear that? I must have missed that article?

  14. The irony is no one questioned Ferrari’s now infamous party mode, it seems they’re to benifit from this new ruling?

    Now if at the same time they increased the allocation of engines, we might see more risks taking on track
    with their engines, leading to the entertaining specticle of more DNF’s, like they use to back in the day.

  15. Does this, mean teams can’t run the engines in 4 cylinder mode when cruising behind the safety car or in the pits?
    Can teams change modes to protect an engine if the ambient temperature suddenly increases.
    What exactly is qualifying mode.

    1. Hiland (@flyingferrarim)
      21st August 2020, 15:27

      That has yet to be clearly stated. I would “assume” the teams will be able to run multiple engine modes for the situations you mentioned. Qually mode is a specialized mode that extracts maximum performance from the engine with a massive increase of engine wear. This typically used for one lap in Q3. Some folks seem to think it is used at various points in the race such as the pit in and out laps. I would argue they don’t use the same qually mode but a high output mode specifically used for the race. I could be wrong as everyone here is just speculating.

  16. So the FIA is banning maximum power.
    So why have all the money spent all these years developing these engines when we could have been racing Ford Cortinas.

    1. I just wish that from the beginning these engines were designed to be at their optimum when in higher revs.. even if that had been over 15k. Because they would have sounded way better:/

      But what we have now is engines that rev way lower.. just to be able to say they use a but less fuel.. oh well…

      1. That makes me wonder, (maybe someone can clarify?) how much of the better efficiency of these engines is simply because they rev lower?

        Are they really that amazing if most of that efficiency comes simply from a far lower rev limit?
        I know there are other things that have aided efficiency like the energy recovery and the batteries… but I wonder if the bigger reason overall is simply the lower rev limit?

        1. From memory @Kasim, the engine manufacturers wanted the lower revs mandated so that the engines could better last multiple races.

  17. Can we stop even pretending this farce is a “sport” now?

  18. what a surprise to see a ferrari powered team happy with this change. Haas and alfa will be hoping this hurts williams qualifying pace and of course ferrari will be happy theyll be hoping it slows down racing point.

  19. Guess it is time for Mercedes to turn up their race mode 0.5s, then.

  20. I love this. If Mercedes loses their large advantage over the rest after this change it would mean to me that they were somehow cheating all the time. Change is good, I love change.

    1. How you add two and two and come up with twenty2 is beyond me.

    2. @aliced Just like Red Bull is also slower this season? You mean you are happy Honda engine cheating has been exposed? Agreed, who knows how much they cheated on the engine modes.

      Also, the use of engine modes won them the 2019 Austria race. Verstappen got the OK to basically run the engine in party mode for the second half of the race. Most likely destroyed the engine, but at least they won a race.

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