Verstappen thinks that those blowouts for Hamilton and Bottas were a one-off. “Silverstone is very tough on the left front tire. You almost always see blowouts there. I don’t expect Mercedes to do that again.”
That does not alter the fact that Verstappen will be back on the fining line in Barcelona next weekend. “Just assume that Mercedes will start from the front row again. I have to keep the gap with Hamilton and Bottas as small as possible and take advantage if things go against it.”
FIA wants to ban ‘party mode’
Incidentally, there is a windfall in the air for Verstappen: the motorsport federation FIA wants to make the qualification (which determines the starting line-up) more exciting by banning so-called ‘party mode’. This means that teams are no longer allowed to increase their engine power during qualifying. Mercedes has been creating a furore for years with an almost unbeatable engine setting that can temporarily increase the tempo firmly.
“It will not close the gap between us and Mercedes, but it could make a difference. It would be good for us. Nothing wrong with that, but above all we have to be faster ourselves”, says Verstappen.
It is not surprising, according to Verstappen, that the measure is implemented during the season. “We’ve seen it before. When Red Bull won almost everything years ago, the FIA also intervened to reduce dominance. I believe it happened in the Schumacher years at Ferrari, only I was still too small to do that at the time. to understand. “
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