Mercedes imagine George Russell’s automobile fell beneath the minimal weight restrict due to increased 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 beneath the authorized minimal weight restrict of 798kg. His crew mate Lewis Hamilton inherited the win.
“At first of the race the automobiles have been the identical weight,” mentioned Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin. They imagine 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, significantly after he’d pushed such a powerful race to win from up to now again,” Shovlin mentioned in a video launched by Mercedes. “Proper now we’re attempting to grasp precisely what occurred.
“A variety of that includes us getting the weights of all of the totally different parts. 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 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.”
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All automobiles have similar 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 US Grand Prix. Spa is a very difficult observe to handle plank put on due to the compression because the automobiles move by means of Eau Rouge at excessive pace.
The crew additionally modified the specification of ground on each their automobiles at Spa after the primary day of follow, which was dry. Saturday was moist however the observe dried out earlier than the race on Sunday.
Mercedes did no follow working on with onerous tyre compound Russell utilized in his closing stint, which coated 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 knowledge, have 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 imagine Russell’s automobile didn’t fall beneath the minimal weight restrict till late within the race and it might solely have offered a slight efficiency profit. “When it comes to tempo initially of the race, it’s nil [gain], as a result of George’s automobile and Lewis’s automobile began the race on the identical weight,” he mentioned.
“Clearly, as George’s automobile was losing a few pounds sooner than Lewis’s all through the race, there’s 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 while 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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