Renault confirms engine ’party mode’

Renault has confirmed that it will finally have a ’party mode’ for its engine from this weekend in Austria.

Until now in the ’power unit’ era, only Mercedes and Ferrari have had the crucial extra power boost in qualifying sessions.

"We’ll have to wait and see what it brings us," Red Bull’s Max Verstappen said in Austria.

Dr Helmut Marko said the boost should be a full three tenths on a hot lap.

Renault’s Cyril Abiteboul confirmed: "We have a qualifying mode now, for both us and our customers.

"Before we were able to call on a bit more performance in qualifying, but now the jump is significant," he told Auto Motor und Sport.

The timing of Renault’s ’party mode’ is interesting, given the long wait for it and the fact Red Bull is now switching to Honda power for 2018.

When asked if he regrets that, Verstappen told De Limburger: "No. Honda also has such a mode."