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Wolff admits: "That makes overtaking a lot harder now".
- GPblog.com
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Botas had difficulty working on their own during the Monza Grand Prix throughout the field. Bottas in particular was stuck behind his predecessor throughout the race. Toto Wolff admits that this has to do with the ban on changing engine settings during the rac
The 'party mode' was not allowed to be used for the first time during the race in Italy last weekend. Teams used to be able to temporarily increase engine power at certain times, allowing them to overtake easily in the race, or drive the fastest possible lap during qualifying.
Abolishing party mode makes overtaking difficult
We were looking forward to a first weekend without such a party mode, but afterwards the difference on Saturday between Mercedes and the rest was still very big. On Sunday cars drove enough together but overtaking turned out to be difficult in some cases. Bottas was particularly struggling and drove half a race behind Lando Norris.
Wolff commented to Motorsport.com that overtaking has become more difficult now that they are no longer allowed to use another engine mode in the race: "We have always said that if you create a power mode for the whole race, the drivers don't have that extra to overtake. That makes it more difficult. You don't have the extra mode that allows you to decide to use it for overtaking. This applies to the big teams as well as the small teams. That's probably why you saw fewer overtaking actions".
Hamilton did better
Hamilton came after a ten-second penalty for entering the pit lane while it was not allowed to enter the back of the field. The world champion was able to work his way up to seventh place, while teammate Bottas couldn't get any further than fifth place. Wollf is happy with Hamilton's recovery: "Really good".
It will be ironic if Formula 1 shoots itself in the foot by banning party mode. It may be more exciting on Saturday but apparently overtaking on Sunday will be more difficult for all teams.