George Russell could have won his second race for Mercedes this season at Spa. However, the underweight car is the reason why the governing body denied him his second win this year. Clearly, he was the fastest in Belgium. And he nearly executed a perfect one-stop race at Spa-Francorchamps to go past his teammate to win the 2024 Belgian GP. Moreover, the Silver Arrows started to celebrate a one-two finish. However, the data showed later that Russell’s W15 had been 1.5kg underweight at Spa. As a result, the 26-year-old Mercedes driver faced disqualification.
Hence, Lewis Hamilton eventually became the race winner. That means the seven-time champion got his second race win of the year. However, the one-two finish for the German outfit seemed more important to challenge Red Bull for the constructors title. It was really “Heartbreaking” for the 26-year-old British racer. Now, Mercedes is trying to figure out why Russell’s car came in ‘Underweight.’
Mercedes Suspects A Wear To The Plank On W15 For Making It Underweight
It is always heartbreaking for drivers to lose a win in a race due to disqualification after celebrating on the podium and all that. But FIA has a clear minimum weight limit of 798kg. And Russell’s car weighed 1.5kg below the limit after post-race scrutineering checks. As a result, the governing body had to grant the Mercedes driver an inevitable exclusion. Later, in an interview with Motorsportweek.com, Andrew Shovlin, the trackside engineering director of Mercedes, said, “It’s unfortunate and very disappointing, especially after Russell had such a strong race, coming from so far back to win.” But Shovlin revealed that Mercedes is trying to understand exactly what happened at Spa. For a complete understanding, they will have to get the weights of all the different components. It is quite natural that during races a car can lose a lot of weight, says the trackside engineering director. He explained that there can be a lot of wears on the tyres, planks, brake, as well as oil consumption.
Most importantly, the drivers can lose a lot of weight as well. Moreover, Shovlin pointed out that at Spa, Russell did lose plenty of weight. But the Mercedes engineering director claims that they had no reason to believe something like this could happen because both Hamilton’s and Russell’s cars weighed the same before the race. Adding to that, Shovlin says that after qualifying, both cars were “Within 500 grams.” But why did Russell was the only one with a problem? Shovlin feels the tyre wear was “Much higher.” But it seems to the director that they lost a lot of material on the plank. Finally, Shovlin says that after collecting all data, they will try to refine their process. After all, they don’t want to repeat it in the future.
Heartbreak For George Russell
If it was not for the underweight issue, George Russell could have had an edge over his teammate. But Lewis Hamilton had luck at the Spa, where he made sure his tires were fresh, unlike his teammate. He pitted several times to go full throttle in the final laps of the race.
But Russell was aiming at a one-stop race and managed to finish on the top of the podium. The Mercedes fans were celebrating their one-two finish, until the news of Russell’s disqualification broke their hearts. But plenty of races still remain this season, even after the summer break, for the 26-year-old driver to prove his worth.
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