© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Lewis Hamilton says he was “with Mercedes for a long, long time”, so he knows that “they have another mode that they’re able to go to”.
After finishing the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint Race in P3, behind George Russell and team-mate Charles Leclerc, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton said he knows Mercedes is running a ‘secret’ mode in qualifying.
“I was with Mercedes for a long, long time, so I know how it works there,” the Briton told the media.
“In qualifying, they have another mode that they’re able to go to, a bit like a ‘party mode’ back in the day, and once they get to Q2, they switch that on, and we don’t have that.
“So, whatever that is. And then in the race, they obviously don’t have that mode, so they still obviously have an advantage overall.
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“We’ve got to figure out what that is, but there’s something more they’re able to extract, particularly in Q2.
“You see, [in Sprint Qualifying] SQ1, we were not that far away, and then all of a sudden it’s like a huge step.
“A tenth in SQ1 behind, I think it was, and then all of a sudden it’s seven tenths or another half a second.
“It’s a big step,” the Briton concluded.
