'Party mode' ban could be postponed

(GMM) Honda F1 boss Toyoharu Tanabe says it is possible the ‘party mode’ ban will be postponed.

In Barcelona, it emerged that the FIA intends to ban the way some engine manufacturers – notably the dominant Mercedes team – are able to significantly ‘turn up’ their engine power particularly in qualifying.

Tanabe said the details of the ban are not yet decided.

“It depends on the content of the regulations and the monitoring,” he told as-web.jp when asked if the ban will help or hinder Honda.

“If you say that Mercedes will lose something, then Honda may say that’s good for us. But at this point, I’m not sure.”

FIA race director Michael Masi says the plan is to get the proposed technical directive up and running ahead of the next race in Belgium.

“The details are under consideration, and Honda is part of those discussions,” Tanabe said.

“We will talk about the regulations, how they are monitored, what the manufacturers think – like ‘I can do this but the monitoring is impossible’.

“If the opinions of the teams and manufacturers match, it will be from Belgium,” said the Japanese. “If we don’t achieve that, it could be postponed.”