Mercedes F1 driver George Russell was aware he was ‘a little bit light’ ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, where he was given a post-race disqualification where his car was found to be 1.5kg under the weight limit.
The Brackley-based outfit investigated the faults and why Russell got disqualified and found that in tandem with the rubber loss and the underfloor plank compression at Eau Rouge, Russell’s in-race weight loss was a significant contributing factor in the final weight reading being too low once the remaining fuel was drained out of the W15.
The Briton was asked this Thursday if Mercedes now needed to take more margins on weight in response to the investigation, such as theoretically adding an extra ballast.
However, he responded that there are different approaches to ensure meeting weight requirements through creating new pre-race meal strategies.
“I don’t think you need to take more margin; I think the processes weren’t quite in place to cover all the different scenarios,” Russell said.
“I knew before the race I was a little bit light, but it was too late to make a substantial change without eating a steak or something! Which was probably not the best pre-race routine.
“But there are things that now, with the benefit of hindsight, we can do better and we will be doing better moving forwards. As always, you need to make a mistake first [before] you recognise there’s a problem.”
The 26-year-old then reflected on the disqualification now that time has passed. Initially being heartbroken on the result in Spa, he instead took on the positives and is positive that change is being made from the pitfalls of the past.
“I’ve been pushing the team for a long time to keep pushing the boundaries, If you take margin in everything you do, you’d never be disqualified, you’d never make a mistake while driving, you’d never spin off. But, you’d never know what the true potential is.
“And of course it’s very frustrating that the one just under the weight limit was the race we won, but there’s zero hard feelings because we’re in this together and it will make us stronger for the future.
“And that race I lost 25 points, but I’ve kept my helmet and it’s going to be going on my bedside table with my other two victories.
“And those celebrations I had with the team straight after were some of the best feelings of my career. So, I’ll only take positives from what happened.”
