Mercedes will look to adapt its processes to keep away from a repeat of George Russell’s disqualification within the Belgian Grand Prix, after revealing its automobiles had been inside 500 grams of one another beginning the race.
Russell was disqualified for his automobile being 1.5 kilograms (3.3 lbs) underweight after successful Sunday’s race at Spa-Francorchamps, having pulled off an initially unplanned one-stop technique to run lengthy to the top. Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin reiterated that extreme tire put on was a possible contributing issue, however that it was solely a difficulty on Russell’s automobile.
“It was clearly very disappointing and unlucky, notably after he had pushed such a robust race to win from to date again,” Shovlin mentioned. “We try to grasp precisely what occurred.
“A whole lot of that entails us getting the weights of all of the completely different elements. The automobile can lose numerous weight in the course of the race. You get tire put on, plank put on, brake put on, oil consumption. The motive force themselves can lose loads, and on this specific race George misplaced fairly a little bit of weight.
“The automobiles began the race the identical weight. Lewis [Hamilton] and George had been each weighed after qualifying. The automobiles had been inside 500 grams. George’s automobile was the one one which had the issue, and it’s as a result of issues just like the tire put on was a lot greater. It appears like we misplaced extra materials on the plank. We are going to gather all that information, take a look at how we will refine our processes as a result of clearly, we don’t need that to occur sooner or later.”
Shovlin accepts the lack of weight would have had an impression on Russell’s general race time, albeit measured in extraordinarily small portions.
“When it comes to tempo at first of the race it’s nil as a result of George’s automobile and Lewis’ automobile begin the race on the similar weight. Clearly, as George’s automobile was reducing weight sooner than Lewis’ all through the race, there’s an related acquire with that.
“However you might be into the hundredths of a second per lap. Will probably be very small as a result of if you end up speaking about quantities like one or two kilos, they don’t quantity to plenty of lap time. However as I mentioned, at first of the race the automobiles had been the identical weight.”
With Hamilton inheriting the victory having initially completed second, Shovlin says there are clear positives that Mercedes is making an attempt to concentrate on because of its efficiency in Belgium, regardless of the frustration of shedding a one-two.
“It was very a lot a bittersweet second. It was a incredible end to the race. To get the automobiles house 1-2 was an actual achievement, notably as a result of we had had such a tough Friday. However general, apart from the frustration, the group is de facto inspired by the efficiency. It was a fantastic turnaround by the engineering group to get the automobile sorted out to carry out so effectively within the race.
“It was additionally encouraging for us as sizzling circuits haven’t been our energy this yr. The observe was fairly sizzling there in Belgium and we had been capable of carry out rather well, notably on the long term. George clearly did one of many longest stints of anybody. Loads of positives for certain, and only a disgrace that we couldn’t maintain the outcome.”
