F1 Qualifying Analysis: Hamilton’s ‘party mode' spoils the fun

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

For all of the buzz surrounding the ‘new era’ Formula 1 was supposedly embarking on at the start of the 2018 season, and the optimistic prospects of a closer fight at the front of the pack, Lewis Hamilton delivered the kind of crushing display that typified his charge to the championship last year.

And it wasn’t until the very end of Q3 that Hamilton dashed our hopes of a tussle for pole, killing the lofty expectations many - myself included - had for the climax of qualifying.

Just 0.061 seconds had covered Hamilton, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen after the opening Q3 runs, delayed following Valtteri Bottas’ shunt and the resulting red flag. The stage appeared to be set for a tight fight to end qualifying.

But Hamilton then turned on the style. As he passed through each sector, the gap grew bigger and bigger. He found four-tenths of a second alone in the first sector, and with every additional delta split we saw, there was a sharp intake of air through the media centre.

A member of one team told me they were “just laughing” watching Hamilton’s lap and final time out of sheer disbelief, with his effort of 1:21.164 being almost seven-tenths of a second clear of the field. Pole number one of the season, seven in Australia and 73 of his career.

It was another lap that furthered the case for Hamilton being the greatest qualifier in F1 history. Statistically, he is, and the debate really does appear to boil down between Hamilton and his hero, Ayrton Senna, a demon over one lap. Hamilton appears to be able to find that extra gear, much as Senna could, over the rest of the field, even admitting himself it was “one of my best” pole laps.

That ‘extra gear’ was labelled the ‘party mode’ on the Mercedes power unit, seemingly coined by Hamilton himself during a Petronas sponsor event in Italy last week. Suped-up engine modes are nothing new in F1 pushing for peak performance, yet Hamilton said he was looking forward to seeing what the power unit could do when turned up to 11.

Hamilton was coy about the “party mode” concept after the session, though, stressing: “I can assure you we don’t have a party mode. I use the same mode from Q2 to end of Q3. There was no extra button, there was no extra mode that I engaged in.”

Yet Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff appeared to contradict his driver when speaking after the session, saying there was a shift in mode between the sessions. “There is a party mode in the car, but we switched the party mode on in Q3,” Wolff said. “There was no difference from the first run in Q3 to the second run in Q3, he just said that he had a great lap, pulled it all together and carried more speed through the apexes.”

Party or no party, Hamilton’s ability to dig out that kind of time when it mattered late in the session sent out a real warning shot to the rest of the field. Ferrari’s short-run pace was perhaps its strongest asset in pre-season testing, yet Mercedes and Hamilton have come in at the first race and immediately stamped their authority on qualifying.

The big blot on Mercedes’ results sheet was in the sister W09 Hybrid car, though. While Hamilton was able to sweep to pole, teammate Valtteri Bottas - arguably the only driver who could have got close in Q3 - crashed out in dramatic fashion at the start of his quick Q3 run, severely damaging the rear of his car.

The Finn was thankfully unharmed, but the timing of it is unfortunate. We haven’t even had the first race of the season, yet we are already considering Bottas’ future with Mercedes beyond the end of the year, such is the volatile nature of the driver market for 2019. Mistakes like this are not the way Bottas would have wanted to start the season, even if he brushed off the possible psychological impact.

“Of course initially I was very disappointed, but I’m already looking forward to the race,” Bottas said. “I accept I made a mistake, like I said it can happen anywhere, sometimes you get away with it but this time I didn’t. Everyone makes mistakes, so there’s no big war inside my head and I’m just looking forward to tomorrow. And in the next qualifying I’ll go flat out again and will take risks.”

Team boss Toto Wolff was caught on the F1 world feed looking angry following Bottas’ shunt, and while he was quick to offer support, he appeared to ponder the possible ramifications of the crash more than the driver in question.

“My reaction with the F-word was probably about the psychological effect it could have on Valtteri,” Wolff said. “Because Lewis was fastest throughout the session and in the last run before that he put sector two and especially sector three together, he had a purple sector three, but lacked in sector one. You know where you lack time, but then you carry too much speed into Turn 1, the grip is not there and you shunt it into the wall.

“This is a moment when you could start to question yourself and this in race one is not good for the psychology of the driver. We are trying to give him all the support we can and obviously it’s very early days for our team championship.

“But starting P15 in Melbourne is obviously not an easy starting position.”

Contrasting fortunes for the Mercedes drivers may have denied us the chance for a real fight at the front should the Silver Arrows’ race pace be as great as feared by some corners of the paddock. Much as in qualifying, the early data from practice could ultimately be a red herring before the wick is turned up for Sunday and the team shows its hand.

Alas, for now, Hamilton will savour another qualifying demolition - even if he did spoil the party for the rest of us.