Mercedes continues to be trying to find solutions to the surprising weight reduction suffered by George Russell’s automotive within the Belgian GP, however extreme plank put on has been singled out as certainly one of a number of potential elements behind the technical infringement.
Russell had executed a superb one-stop technique to cross the checkered flag first, simply half a second forward of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Nevertheless, throughout post-race scrutineering, it was revealed that Russell’s automotive weighed in 1.5kg beneath Components 1’s minimal weight restrict, a technical breach that inevitably compelled the FIA stewards to disqualify the Mercedes contender, handing the win to Hamilton.
Within the aftermath of Russell’s disqualification, tyre put on was thought of as a attainable perpetrator behind the W15 falling beneath the burden restrict.
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has offered a run-down of the possible causes behind the pricey infringement, pointing to a number of elements that collectively might clarify why Russell’s automotive ended the race at Spa lighter than anticipated.
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“Clearly, very disappointing and unlucky, significantly after he’d [George Russell] pushed such a powerful race to win from thus far again,” the British engineer mentioned in Mercedes’ Belgian GP debrief video on YouTube.
“Proper now we’re making an attempt to know precisely what occurred. Lots of that entails us getting the weights of all of the totally different elements, and the automotive can lose various weight in the course of the race.
“You get tyre put on, plank put on, brake put on, oil consumption, the drivers themselves can lose loads, 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 increased. It seems to be like we misplaced extra materials on the plank.”
F1’s technical rules stipulate that plank put on can’t exceed one millimeter throughout a single race.
As a reminder, Mercedes inadvertently breached this rule final yr on the US Grand Prix, which led to Hamilton – and in addition Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – being disqualified from the occasion.
The difficult nature of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, significantly the high-speed compression by means of Eau Rouge, exacerbates plank put on.
Russell’s one-stop technique, a choice made in the course of the race moderately than a pre-planned tactic, additional compounded the difficulty. As he prolonged his stint on the laborious compound tyre to cowl nearly three-quarters of the race distance, the plank was subjected to elevated stress and put on.
“We’ll acquire all that knowledge although, take a look at how we will refine our processes, as a result of clearly we do not need that to occur sooner or later,” added Shovlin.
The Briton made clear that, whereas Russell’s automotive weighed in beneath the restrict, no important efficiency benefit was derived from the breach.
“When it comes to tempo in the beginning of the race, it’s nil [gain], as a result of George’s automotive and Lewis’s automotive began the race on the identical weight,” he defined.
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