FIA set to ban boost settings in qualifying

FORMULA One bosses are to bring in a new rule that will slow Lewis Hamilton down. The FIA have written to all teams telling them they propose to outlaw boost settings used in qualifying — a mode Mercedes have mastered to claim every pole position this season, a second ahead of the field. No wonder Hamilton referred to it as the ‘party mode’. Clearly annoyed during his press conference ahead of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, he said: ‘It is no surprise, they are always trying to slow us down as the guys at our team have done such a great job with the engine. ‘But I don’t think it will get the result the FIA want.’ The letter came from FIA secretary general Peter Bayer. He believes engine modes have become too complex to police and wants to impose the same settings for qualifying and the race. An official directive could be brought in before next weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. The move comes amid a combustible paddock atmosphere, with the ongoing fight over the legality of the Racing Point cars, and last-minute wrangling over the new Concorde Agreement, the contract that binds the sport together and which must be signed by the end of August. Hamilton has opened up a 30-point championship lead in just five rounds, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen the only non-Mercedes man to win so far. Sergio Perez, meanwhile, will return to the Racing Point cockpit in Barcelona having overcome the coronavirus that kept him out of the previous two races.