Mercedes consider George Russell’s automobile fell beneath the minimal weight restrict due to greater than anticipated put on on his tyres and the plank beneath his automobile.
Russell misplaced victory in Sunday’s race when his W15 was discovered to be 1.5 kilograms under the authorized minimal weight restrict of 798kg. His crew mate Lewis Hamilton inherited the win.
“At the beginning of the race the automobiles have been the identical weight,” stated Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin. They consider unexpectedly excessive put on ranges in two areas meant Russell’s automobile ended the race lighter than anticipated.
“Clearly it’s very disappointing and unlucky, notably after he’d pushed such a robust race to win from up to now again,” Shovlin stated in a video launched by Mercedes. “Proper now we’re attempting to grasp precisely what occurred.
“A number of that includes us getting the weights of all of the totally different elements. The automobile can lose numerous weight throughout the race. You get tyre put on, plank put on, brake put on, oil consumption. The drivers themselves can lose rather a lot and on this explicit race George misplaced fairly a little bit of weight.
“Now, the automobiles began the race the identical weight. Lewis and George have been each weighed after qualifying, the automobiles have been inside 500 grams.
“George’s was the one one which had the issue and it’s as a result of issues just like the tyre put on was a lot greater. It seems like we misplaced extra materials on the plank.”
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All automobiles have equivalent planks fitted to their underside that are measured for put on after the race. Planks are permitted to put on by no multiple millimetre throughout a race.
Mercedes fell foul of this rule final yr, when Hamilton was disqualified after ending second in the USA Grand Prix. Spa is a very difficult monitor to handle plank put on due to the compression because the automobiles move via Eau Rouge at excessive pace.
The crew additionally modified the specification of flooring on each their automobiles at Spa after the primary day of follow, which was dry. Saturday was moist however the monitor dried out earlier than the race on Sunday.
Mercedes did no follow operating on with laborious tyre compound Russell utilized in his closing stint, which lined nearly three-quarters of the race. Russell switched to a one-stop technique throughout the race, which the crew didn’t plan earlier than the race.
“We’ll gather all that information, take a look at how we are able to refine our processes as a result of clearly we don’t need that to occur sooner or later,” Shovlin added.
Mercedes consider Russell’s automobile didn’t fall under the minimal weight restrict till late within the race and it could solely have supplied a slight efficiency profit. “By way of tempo firstly of the race, it’s nil [gain], as a result of George’s automobile and Lewis’s automobile began the race on the similar weight,” he stated.
“Clearly, as George’s automobile was losing a few pounds sooner than Lewis’s all through the race, there may be an related acquire with that, however you’re into hundredths of a second per lap. It will likely be very small as a result of whenever you’re speaking about quantities like one or two kilos, they don’t quantity to a whole lot of lap time.”
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2024 Belgian Grand Prix
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