Renault says F1 ‘quali mode’ ban “won’t be too difficult” to manage

The upcoming ban which will outlaw Formula 1 teams from changing engine performance levels over a grand prix weekend “won’t be too difficult” to adapt to, according to Renault.

From the Italian Grand Prix onwards, teams will be prevented from using the high-power engine settings in qualifying and will be forced to use the same power unit mode throughout the weekend.

Mercedes has been dominant in qualifying this year and its rivals suspect that has been down to improvements made to its maximum power modes in qualifying.

In theory, the new technical directive should rein in some of the German manufacturer’s advantage, but Mercedes believes the restrictions could actually end up making the team more competitive in races.

Renault’s engine technical director Remi Taffin reckons the new technical directive will not pose too much of a challenge for the teams.

“On paper it won’t be too difficult,” Taffin explained. “We will adjust the ratio between qualifying and the race.

“The rules, so far, said we could run modes differently between qualifying and the race and, as always, we try to optimise the rules. Now the FIA has given us a new directive to be applied from Monza onwards, so we’ll try to adapt, re-optimising and validating the area where we need.

“It’s the same work, just a different output. We’ll have less power in qualifying, and more power in the race, so it’s a new trade-off. We understand the concern of the FIA and we will work alongside them to achieve their request.”

Taffin said that Renault is happy with the competitiveness and reliability of its 2020 power unit and claimed the French manufacturer has now reached the level of performance it originally hoped to achieve last year.

“After six races, the engine is behaving as expected,” Taffin said. “The level of drivability and performance is there and it’s about getting the most out from it.

"The midfield is close and it’s a matter of milliseconds to get into Q3. We can’t let any milliseconds go aside and that’s the work of our race team. The work done at the factory has been good so far with good reliability and performance.

“The race team is there to extract the final percentage from our package each race weekend, which is really important these days. It’s rewarding for the efforts we’ve put in last year and this year.

“We’re back to the performance level we needed to achieve last year, and we’ve made sure to correct the gremlins we had at the first part of last season. The hard work is paying off this year.

“For the race team, especially, it’s been very intense with the triple-headers. The turnaround has been challenging but they are doing exceptionally well.”