The FIA’s new Technical Directive regarding power unit usage has made racing worse, according to Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff, following its introduction in Italy.
The sport’s governing body introduced a new directive that stipulates the same engine mode must be used through qualifying and the race.
It means teams were unable to use ‘party mode’ in qualifying for a brief additional boost while in race trim the same situation also applied.
Mercedes again dominated qualifying, finishing comfortably clear of the pack, but had a tougher race, with Valtteri Bottas struggling to fifth and Hamilton seventh after a penalty.
“It’s just that we’re in one mode and it’s a fast mode that we used to race in a much shorter part of the race,” said Hamilton.
“The engine felt consistent. The only thing is that it’s not… it’s worse for racing in the sense that in the past you could move between modes and you had to manage the small amount of strong race engine mode, because you only have a certain quota.
“It was more fun to have to manage with that and manage the power and utilising it for overtaking.
“I would imagine that’s probably why you see less overtaking than perhaps in the past.”
Wolff echoed Hamilton’s stance regarding the use of the same engine mode throughout a race.
“In terms of power units we always said that – you create one power mode for the whole race means you haven’t got the extra spice to overtake, you haven’t got the extra modes that you may deploy to overtake,” he said. “That’s as valid for the small teams as the big teams.
“The race [at Monza] is a consequence of that decision.”
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