Red Bull Cry to Ban Engine Modes Ignored

Mercedes' "party mode" qualifying engine mode had the paddock talking after the Australian Grand Prix.

FIA race director Charlie Whiting has dismissed calls to ban qualifying specific engine modes that provide cars with an extra boost in engine performance.

The pleas come after Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton took pole position by over half a second from Kimi Raikkonen in second place with one of the reigning champions most impressive qualifying laps of his career. It left many wondering if much of the gap was down to the Silver Arrows much talked about "party mode".

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner and head of Red Bull's young driver programme Helmut Marko have since called for such modes to be banned by the FIA and race engine settings to be used instead, however, those pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

Charlie Whiting has dismissed the calls, for the time being, saying they are not defined in the technical regulations of the sport.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, Whiting stated: "Some teams were hinting that they might not be getting equal power units,

"Whatever party mode is, I’ve not seen it written in any technical documents!

"Put it like this. If Mercedes customers come to us and say, ‘We’ve asked for party mode and we’re not getting it,’ then we might have something to say about it.

"There are all sorts of modes on these engines, and we know full well that they change at various times during the race," he added.