After being disqualified, George Russell lost the winner’s trophy to his Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, despite Russell leading Hamilton to the finish line in the Belgian Grand Prix.
While they are still attempting to determine the precise cause, Mercedes has identified three factors that may have contributed to George Russell’s car finishing the Belgian Grand Prix underweight.
What had appeared to be an inspired radio call to switch to a one-stop strategy had seen Russell win the race on the road. Though he was unable to pass in the last few laps, teammate Lewis Hamilton caught up after changing tires twice.
Russell’s happiness was short-lived, though, as it was revealed shortly after the podium ceremony that his car had failed FIA post-race inspections. After that procedure was confirmed, the Briton was officially disqualified, and his Mercedes teammate emerged victorious.
Since then, the team has been attempting to determine how precisely Russell’s car managed to weigh 1.5 kg less than the minimum required weight of 798 kg. The driver is included in that total and is weighed separately on a set of scales prior to the addition of the two figures.
In a recently published team video, trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin offered new information on the subject. He proposed that the wear on the tires and the planks, as well as Russell’s own weight loss during the intense race, would have all been factors.
“Obviously, it was very disappointing and unfortunate, especially after he had driven such a strong race to win from such a far back position,” he stated. We’re attempting to pinpoint exactly what transpired. We have to obtain the weights of each component for a large portion of that.
“During the race, the car may lose a significant amount of weight. You receive oil consumption, brake wear, plank wear, and tire wear. A driver can lose a lot of weight, and in this specific race, George lost a significant amount of weight. Every car in the race had the same starting weight. Following qualifying, George and Lewis were both weighed. The cars had a 500 gram difference.
“The reason George’s car was the only one with the issue was because of things like the much higher tyre wear. On the plank, it appears that we lost more material. But since it is obvious that we do not want that to occur again, we will gather all of that information and consider how we can improve our procedures.”
Shovlin continued by asserting that Russell’s car’s underweight would have had no effect on performance, saying that “George’s car and Lewis’ car start the race at the same weight, so there is zero pace at the beginning of the race.” There is obviously an associated gain because throughout the race, George’s car lost weight more quickly than Lewis’.
You are, however, getting into hundredths of a second per lap. It won’t be much because one or two kilograms doesn’t equal a lot of lap time. Instead, it will be very little. However, as I mentioned, the cars were the same weight at the beginning of the race.”
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