Max Verstappen expressed his frustration during the launch of the Red Bull RB20, stating that he felt unable to compete during Mercedes F1’s years of domination.
He now elaborates on the challenges posed by the Mercedes engine’s “party mode,” which provided an extra power boost in qualifying towards the end of the 2010s.
Verstappen mentioned, “I don’t believe our car was significantly faster in races back then. Sometimes, it seemed like we were close in qualifying. But it’s always hard to tell.”
He continued, saying, “You never really know how good the laps of the other guys were, and there was also a specific engine manufacturer with a ‘party mode’ from 2014 to 2017 or 2018. They had extra power if they wanted.”
“There was a distorted image at that time. They handled it very cleverly, because why reveal everything when you’re winning anyway? Of course, there is a poles-to-victories ratio. But I always see it like this: points are scored on Sundays. Saturday isn’t that crucial.”
Despite having more wins than pole positions, Verstappen emphasizes that it’s not a disregard for qualifying: “I enjoy Sundays more. I prefer Sundays, but if I have a good car on Saturday, I obviously try to secure pole position.”
He added, “Sometimes it’s just the car’s characteristics or something like that. With less fuel, the cars are also closer to each other. This sometimes masks small weaknesses in the cars. There’s a lot behind all of this.”