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Lewis Hamilton has suggested that his former Formula 1 team Mercedes may still be extracting extra performance in qualifying through a mechanism reminiscent of its former ‘party mode’ advantage — a claim swiftly dismissed by McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Mercedes has emerged as the clear benchmark across all three qualifying sessions so far this year. The Silver Arrows have consistently stretched their advantage as sessions progress, building an average gap of nearly six tenths in Q3.
For Hamilton, the pattern feels strikingly familiar.
During his time at Mercedes, the team famously deployed an aggressive engine map in qualifying from 2018 onwards — a setting the Briton himself dubbed ‘party mode’.
“Our quali mode is the most fun mode – it should be the ‘party mode’,” Hamilton said ahead of the 2018 Australian Grand Prix. “It is the most power and has the most juice, and it's when we hit the highest speeds.”
That advantage was curtailed midway through the 2020 season, when the FIA restricted changes to engine settings between qualifying and the race. Article C5.23 of the technical regulations states: “The power unit must be operated in a single ICE mode during each competitive lap in all sessions of a Competition, with the exception of free practice sessions.”
Despite those regulatory constraints, Hamilton believes Mercedes may still be finding a way to unlock additional power when it matters most.
Asked after qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix whether Mercedes’ smaller race advantage compared to its qualifying margin could be attributed to energy deployment or tyre management, Hamilton pointed to something more familiar.
“I was with Mercedes for a long, long time, so I know how it works there. In qualifying they have another mode that they're able to go to, a bit like a ‘party mode’ back in the day, and once they get to Q2 they switch that on, and we don't have that.”
He highlighted a sharp step in performance between sessions.
“You see in Q1 we're not that far away, and then all of a sudden it's like a huge step. A tenth in Q1 behind, I think it was, and then all of a sudden it's seven tenths or another half a second. It's a big step.”
Hamilton acknowledged that Mercedes does not retain that same edge in race trim, but insisted there is still something extra being extracted in qualifying — particularly from Q2 onward.
“We've got to figure out what that is, but there's something more they're able to extract, particularly in Q2.”
The suggestion was firmly rejected by reigning world champion Lando Norris when put to him.
“We don't have that,” the McLaren-Mercedes driver stated.
Asked directly whether he believed Mercedes might still possess such a mode, Norris was unequivocal.
“No. Sometimes when you're a bit off you create things in your head.”
The exchange underscores a growing intrigue around Mercedes’ qualifying form — and whether its edge is rooted in engineering ingenuity or simply execution. For now, the debate remains open, even if the paddock is divided on its explanation.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.
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