In an attempt to get rid of the ‘party mode’ some teams have in qualifying to give them extra pace, the FIA have adjusted their rules regarding the usage of oil during qualifying.
Especially Ferrari and Mercedes always seemed to drastically improve their lap times in Q3 of a qualifying round, something which was dubbed as ‘party mode’, an engine mode which could run for very short amounts of time which provided extra performance.
During Grands Prix, there already is a maximum amount of oil each engine can use for the entirety of the race. This is to prevent teams from making a fuel mix with more oil which could lead to teams being able to drive faster for a longer period of time. However, having more oil during a single lap in qualifying was the difference between pole position and P2 during most rounds last season.
Therefore, in 2019, teams will be obligated to empty their extra oil tank during qualifying, so it will be impossible to get some extra oil in the fuel mix to get that extra boost in power. Oil can’t be used as fuel, that’s the idea. The FIA hopes this will get rid of the party mode.
This is good news if you’re Red Bull Racing, as they didn’t have a party mode last season and therefore struggled on single-lap pace in a lot of cases. They did lock out the front row in Mexico and grab a pole position in Monaco, but they were mostly doomed to P5 and P6 starting positions, behind Mercedes and Ferrari. Could the playing field be even now?
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