Mercedes cites three factors behind Russell’s disqualification

A combination of several factors likely led to George Russell’s car being found under the minimum weight at Spa-Francorchamps, resulting in his disqualification. George Russell delivered a stellar performance at Spa-Francorchamps, securing a brilliant victory ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton, thanks notably to an optimal strategy by the Mercedes team that allowed the Brit to make just one pit stop.

However, after the race, his car was 1.5 kg below the regulatory minimum weight, and Russell was simply disqualified, handing the victory—which was initially his second of the season after Austria—to Hamilton.

Mercedes had not gone into detail about this stroke of misfortune for their driver in the days following the event, which also marked the summer break. As the championship protagonists reconvene this weekend for the resumption at Zandvoort, the Brackley-based team is now discussing three distinct factors that, combined, would have led to the unintended weight reduction of George Russell’s car.

The excessive wear on Russell’s tires was the first theory mentioned by Mercedes at the time. This was partly due to the fact that Russell made only one pit stop during the race, ending the event with much more worn tires than those of other drivers, notably Lewis Hamilton, who made two stops.

Mario Isola, Pirelli’s head of competition, had estimated that a single tire could lose a kilogram over its lifespan in a race.

Additionally, Mercedes mentioned that there was more excessive wear than expected on the car’s floor, a fact attributed to the specifics of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, largely occurring during the compression of F1 cars at the foot of the famous Eau Rouge corner. A third factor might also have contributed to the weight reduction: George Russell’s own weight loss during the race. It is known that drivers are likely to lose several kilos during a Formula 1 Grand Prix, and the particularly hot conditions of the Belgian Grand Prix likely exacerbated this phenomenon in the English driver, as the car’s post-race weight also includes the driver’s weight.

According to Mercedes, these three combined factors led to an unexpected loss of weight on George Russell’s car. Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ track engineering director, had already mentioned the weight issue of Russell in the days following the Spa race.

“The car can lose a lot of weight during the race,” he said in Mercedes’ usual post-race analysis video. “There is tire wear, floor wear, brake wear, oil consumption. The driver himself can lose a lot of weight. And in this particular race, George lost quite a bit of weight.”