carisi2k wrote:I agree with most of what you have said except for the 0.5 qualifying mode around Monaco. On other circuits I would agree that it is worth about 0.5sec a lap but not at Monaco where it might be worth 0.2 of a second. You should also consider the recent reliability issues Mercedes have had and it might be the case that the qualifying mode might have to be put away for a few grand prix.
Here are last year's qualifying times.
1 44 L. HAMILTON Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team
Q1 1:16.588
Q2 1:15.864
Q3 1:15.098
3 5 S. VETTEL Scuderia Ferrari
Q1 1:17.502
Q2 1:16.181
Q3 1:15.849
Now please explain, what reliability issues bothered Mercedes in Qualifying for either Nico or Lewis, throughout this year (other than failures suffered due to Bottas damaging Lewis' car in Bahrain, that screwed up China)? Why should they put off their Qualifiying mode for this GP?