Currently, we all know the distribution of a race weekend, on Friday the first two free practice sessions are held with a duration of an hour and a half each, the next day the last practice session takes place (one hour long) and qualifying, where the starting position for Sunday's race will be defined. This time we will talk about the qualifying session. Mercedes has been the dominant team in this part of the Grand Prix, remember that during the 2019 season, Ferrari was the one that used to take over the top positions, however, this year, the Italians have struggled to enter Q3 with their two cars . One reason why cars go faster in qualifying sessions is the qualifying modes that each team has which are used to squeeze the maximum power from its engines as well as from the car, aerodynamically speaking.

These “qualifying modes” consist of added fuel consumption and extra strain upon the engines. Formula 1 cars would not be able to use these “qualifying modes” in a full race, so they have to change them after qualifying. These settings increase engine power and go faster on both straights and curves. Red Bull’s team principal, Christian Horner, has commented that Mercedes have been 4 tenths faster in race pace and there have been times when the Germans have been more than 1 second ahead of them in qualifying. Well, according to the media called “Racefans.net” has commented that the FIA ​​plans to ban these “qualifying modes” to be the same settings for both the qualifying session and the race. The FIA ​​would modify the regulations implying that these settings cannot be changed as the car will be under "parc fermé" restrictions. Remember that when the cars are under these restrictions, no technical setting can be modified, otherwise, they will get penalized.

Max Verstappen has commented that the main difference between them and Mercedes is in the qualifying pace, due to the differences in their respective engine modes. “I think it is quali mode, they definitely seem to be using a bit more of that. The engine modes in the race are a bit closer especially, I think, for us”. The Dutchman commented.

If this happens, this will be the one of the many technical changes that the FIA will make in the next couple of years, this change about the qualifying modes will begin until next season but if it becomes real, teams might now consider start proving different modes that can be use for both qualifying and race.