© Sam Bloxham for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin explains how George Russell’s car could have lost “quite a bit of weight” at the Belgian Grand Prix.
After George Russell’s fantastic Belgian Grand Prix win, his car was found to be underweight, and the matter had been referred to the stewards.
The stewards then announced that George has been disqualified, which makes Lewis Hamilton, who finished the race in P2, the new winner.
Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin explains what could have caused George’s car to lose weight.
“We are trying to understand exactly what happened,” the Briton said.
“A lot of that involves us getting the weights of all the different components. 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.
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“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.”
As for whether excessive weight loss provided George with an advantage over Lewis Hamilton, who was trying to catch him near the end of the race, Shovlin explained:
“In terms of pace at the start of the race, it is nil because George’s car and Lewis’ car start the race at the same weight.
“Obviously, as George’s car was losing weight faster than Lewis’ throughout the race, there is an associated gain with that. But you are into the hundredths of a second per lap.
“It will be very small because when you are talking about amounts like one or two kilos, they do not amount to a lot of lap time,” he concluded.
