Mercedes' party mode has made the team extremely dominant in qualifying in recent years. Every year the team is much faster on the straight, but the expectation is that a possible ban on qualifying mode on the engine won't cause a huge disadvantage.
"The ban will certainly not hurt us," explained Toto Wolff at the press conference on Friday. The team boss of Mercedes expects the team will be able to perform better during the race, if the qualifying mode is really banned. The team will then be able to focus more on racing speed, but Wolff doesn't expect the team to lose their dominance.
No problems for Mercedes
Wolff indicated that the possible change in the regulations will cause new problems. "It's definitely going to be a challenge, which we're going to take on where the new rules will go.
"I hope we can translate the changes into better performance during the race on Sunday."