Sebastian Vettel doesn't believe Mercedes' much talked about "party mode" is the main reason Lewis Hamilton was on pole position in Melbourne by nearly 0.7s.
Vettel beat Hamilton to victory in Australia, utilising a Virtual Safety Car period mid-race to leapfrog the reigning world champion. Hamilton had led away from the pole position he had claimed in dominant fashion on Saturday, with his final Q3 lap leading to speculation of a significant Mercedes engine boost for qualifying.
The German revealed that GPS data showed Mercedes' "engine was only worth just around 0.1s of the eventual margin and the time Hamilton had over the rest of the field was down to him.
"I think so," Vettel replied when asked about the legality of Mercedes' higher engine modes. ''I think also Lewis was right yesterday. I think that... y'know we do get a bit of data, GPS data and stuff like that... I think they did turn it up for Q3 but not by seven-tenths.
"I think probably if you look at qualifying carefully, I try to do so last night. It's fair to say they were quick in Q1, quicker than us, Lewis was quick in Q2 and then his second run, I don't know, something happened.
"So, his last run in Q3 was the only proper run at the end and he had a clean run and I don't think the gain that he had in time was down to engine. Probably a tenth, a little bit more, but not seven tenths.
"So, the credit is for his lap that he did and not for the engine power. It's completely fine what they're doing because they didn't do anything special. Not more than they did last year, probably even a bit less by the looks of it. So, it was clear that he just had a very good lap and he drove well.''
Formula One's two four-time champions were involved in an amusing exchange in Saturday's post-qualifying press conference where Hamilton joked to Vettel: '"I was waiting to put in a good lap in, so I could wipe the smile off your face!'' after the German questioned how Hamilton was able to find so much time on his final run in Q3.
Vettel played down questions about Hamilton's comments and his relationship with the Mercedes driver.
"Not really. He said he was joking and I believe him. I think we are old enough, I don't think we need to go on that sort of level. It's fine as long as we joke with each other and I don't think... apart from a point last year, we don't have a problem with each other. I think even if we are very different persons, I think we share - all of us - a common passion and that makes us quite equal again. We love racing and we try to do our best, once we're in the car and beat all the others. I think in that regard, I don't see why we shouldn't get on with each other.''