Mercedes suspects that the reason behind George Russell’s disqualification from the Belgian Grand Prix was a decrease in tire weight during the long final stint. Russell opted for an unexpected one-stop strategy and successfully defended his position against Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri in an exhilarating finish, with a mere 1.1-second gap separating the top three drivers at the finish line. However, Russell’s victory was short-lived as his car was found to be 1.5kg below the minimum weight after the race, prompting trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin to believe that the loss of weight from the tires played a role.
Shovlin expressed his sympathy for Russell, acknowledging his impressive performance and tire management skills. The team is currently investigating the cause of the underweight car and suspects that the loss of rubber from the one-stop strategy contributed to the issue. However, Shovlin emphasized that they will not make any excuses and are determined to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.
Despite Russell’s disqualification, Mercedes still secured victory through Lewis Hamilton, who now has a total of 105 wins. Shovlin praised Hamilton’s strong race performance, highlighting his status as the fastest two-stopping car on the track. While Mercedes can take pride in their car’s pace, they are disappointed not to have achieved a 1-2 finish after overcoming a challenging start to the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. Nevertheless, the team remains optimistic and plans to learn from this experience, aiming to come back stronger after the summer break at Zandvoort.
