Ricciardo conflicted over F1 'party mode' ban

Daniel Ricciardo has admitted it will be a shame to lose the ultimate pace of a Formula 1 car with the removal of qualifying engine modes.

Also referred to as 'party mode', the majority of teams on the grid have the ability to turn the power up to eleven to go for a single all or nothing qualifying lap on Saturdays.

The mode comes at a cost and drastically reduces the life of the power unit, but for a driver, Ricciardo explained he would miss being able to take the car to its absolute limit.

Reacting to the news of the FIA's plans to ban the use of varying engine modes, Ricciardo said: "My initial answer is no [I don't agree], because I like going all out on Saturday and I think that is what qualifying really is for, but if there is more to it then I probably won’t answer too much more.

“But the thought of going fast and like, even from a pure performance point of view, for an F1 car to be singing as loud as it can on one lap and for the engine guys to be trying to squeeze everything, I think that is also cool. “From that concept I don’t think I want that to be changed but I’d better find out more.”

Commenting on the recent progress of Renault in developing engine modes, Ricciardo added: “Definitely last year that was a big step. I felt that was – I’ve been driving these V6 Renaults since 2014 so I felt that last year was the biggest step I’ve had in that time, so there is progress, you feel it."

Esteban Ocon agreed with his Renault team-mate's assessment and commented: “It is cool to have a pure one lap exercise in qualifying like we have now. Full beans, a new set of tyres and push.

“We have enough to think about in the race but qualifying is a cool exercise. I would probably prefer to keep it the way it is now.”

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