"With Red Bull really pushing to have the rule change for the engine, and F1 or the FIA trying to slow us down, they handled it really, really well," says Hamilton after surging to Monza pole with highest average-speed F1 lap
Sunday 6 September 2020 08:16, UK
"No party. No problem," declared Mercedes after dominating Italian GP qualifying despite the ban on so-called 'party modes', with Lewis Hamilton delivering the fastest lap in Formula 1 history.
Saturday's session was the first time that all teams were unable to change engine modes during qualifying - with a single power setting now to be used from the start of Q1 to the end of the race - meaning Mercedes were shorn of what was widely recognised as a particularly potent short-use top power output.
But the effective rules change made no material difference to the world champions' domination of F1 qualifying, with Hamilton and Bottas locking out the front row for the sixth race in succession with an advantage over the field of eight tenths of a second.
"It's really hats off to all the guys back at the factory," said Hamilton to Sky Sports F1, who has been unconvinced by the reasoning given for the issuing of the FIA technical directive.
"With Red Bull really pushing to have the rule change for the engine, and Formula 1 or the FIA trying to slow us down, they handled it really, really well. They kept their heads down and just kept working hard.
"This is really a result of the incredible work those guys do, just really proud to be a part of that incredible chain."
The FIA has said it made the change so that it could monitor the performance of all engines more easily, but some have suggested Mercedes clearly had more to lose by the change - particularly in qualifying.
Bottas, who finished 0.069s behind Hamilton, said in the post-qualifying press conference: "Car felt good, engine felt good and like I said before, it should be even better in the race. So I'm not sure how happy Red Bull are now with this engine change. But I don't know."
Asked by Sky F1 on Friday if they had solely been pushing for the change, Red Bull boss Christian Horner said: "No, not at all. Ferrari were very vocal on it as well. Anything that brings the field closer together is a positive for Formula 1. We've had it when we've run at the front previously as well. At the end of the day it's the same for everybody, but there's no guarantee how it's going to affect one engine manufacturer over another."
Hamilton's 94th career pole also brought yet another record for F1's champion driver and team.
By lapping the 3.6-mile Monza layout in a pole-winning time of 1:18.887, Hamilton recorded an average speed of 164.267mph.
That broke the previous all-time record of 163.785mph set by then-Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen at Monza in 2018.
Hamilton, while pleased with his performance, said his laps weren't quite as stirring as those in Q3 at Spa last weekend, when he beat Bottas to pole by half a second.
"They were very good, but it wasn't Spa. Spa lap was definitely one of my best," said Hamilton. "I reckon Singapore [2018] and Spa are the two best I can remember.
"These ones are very clean. The whole session was very, very clean. Obviously Valtteri's closer than I'd like.
"I think on my last lap I lost a tenth I think through that middle sector, which was a little bit frustrating. I could see it kind of dropping away, but Valtteri did a really good job today."
