Towards a single engine mode in F1?

Is the death knell tolling for qualifying and other party modes, these most aggressive engine maps which provide additional performance in qualifying, particularly in Q3?

After the revelations of our colleagues from Race fans, several sources confirmed to AUTOhebdo that the FIA ​​had transmitted to the 10 teams of Formula 1 a letter informing them that only one engine mode would soon be allowed for the qualifying session and the race. A measure that could come into effect this season, in the hope of reshuffling the cards while Mercedes skims over the debates. 

Technically, party mode would not be prohibited but given that it is impossible to use it over a long period of time for obvious reliability reasons, teams will have to find a compromise between performance and robustness. 

On the face of it, the move targets Mercedes' near-hegemonic dominance in 2020. If they were beaten by Red Bull et Max Verstappen at Silverstone (United Kingdom) last Sunday, the Silver Arrows, now black, remain untouchable in qualifying where the gap with their closest pursuer is often around a full second. 

Engine benchmark since the introduction of V6 turbo hybrids, Mercedes made further progress last winter, under pressure from a Toto wolff quite annoyed to have seen Ferrari take the advantage with a propellant whose legality fueled the fire of suspicion in 2019.

In the race, Brackley's rivals operate at a more respectable distance from the star-studded cars, as Verstappen demonstrated in Great Britain. However, the potential disappearance of the most efficient engine modes would not necessarily mean the end of the outrageous domination of Mercedes. 

Indeed, each engine manufacturer has an engine map specially designed to extract maximum competitiveness in Q3. Ferrari, Renault, and Honda, too, will therefore have to make trade-offs.

As always, it is not so much the drop in raw performance that counts but the loss of competitiveness compared to the competition. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that the gap between Mercedes and its competitors remains unchanged. 

The introduction of the single engine mode would not need the unanimity of the teams because it would be implemented through an FIA technical directive.