F1: Mercedes Unveil Initial Findings on George Russell's Underweight W15 at Belgian Grand Prix
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin explained that multiple factors contributed to George Russell being disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix for coming in 1.5kg under the weight limit during post-race checks.
By Divyam Dubey
Following the Belgian Grand Prix, Mercedes has provided an explanation for why George Russell's car was underweight, leading to his disqualification. The British driver had employed a one-stop strategy to secure the lead, ultimately finishing ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton. However, post-race technical inspections revealed that Russell’s car was in breach of the minimum weight regulations. Consequently, his victory was overturned, and the win was awarded to Hamilton. Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin, has acknowledged the team’s disappointment and confirmed a comprehensive investigation to identify the root cause of the issue and prevent recurrence.
Shovlin said: 'It was obviously very disappointing and unfortunate, particularly after Russell had driven such a strong race to win from so far back. We are trying to understand exactly what happened. A lot of that involves us getting the weights of all the different components.'
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‘The car can lose quite a lot of weight during the race. You get tyre wear, plank wear, brake wear, oil consumption. The driver themselves can lose a lot, and in this particular race George lost quite a bit of weight.
'The cars started the race the same weight. Lewis and George were both weighed after qualifying. The cars were within 500 grams. George's car was the only one that had the problem, and it is because things like the tyre wear was much higher. It looks like we lost more material on the plank. We will collect all that data though, look at how we can refine our processes because clearly, we do not want that to happen in the future.’
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Mercedes accepted the FIA’s decision to disqualify George Russell without protest, bringing a bitter end to a dominant race performance. The team's hopes for a first one-two finish since 2022 were dashed as a result.
With ten races remaining, Mercedes now occupies fourth place in the constructors’ championship. Lewis Hamilton is sixth in the drivers’ standings, while Russell’s disqualification has dropped him to eighth.
