Mercedes F1’s Toto Wolff explains the weight miscalculation that led to George Russell’s race disqualification.
George Russell has consequently lost his victory and immediately provided his initial reaction as his boss explained the mishap with the W15 of the British driver, leading to his disqualification for non-compliance with weight regulations.
“It’s heartbreaking… We arrived 1.5 kg lighter than expected and have been disqualified from the race,” commented Russell on his social media platforms.
“We gave everything on the track today and I’m proud to have crossed the finish line first.”
“There will be more races to come.”
Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff, in his press briefing following the FIA’s decision, stated that the weight discrepancy was likely due to Russell’s strategy, which changed from two stops to just one.
“It was reported to the stewards that there was a weight discrepancy. I think this is because we used the same tyre for most of the race and there wasn’t much rubber left at the end. Also, there was no victory lap to pick up extra rubber on the tyres.”
“We have to accept it. The stewards have ruled against us because a mistake was made, and we failed to account for it.”
“A one-two finish would have been an excellent result before the summer break; it couldn’t have been better. The silver lining of this race is that we had two cars that were the benchmark with two different strategies, and who could have predicted that a few months ago.”
Toto Wolff is not looking to blame the team or anyone else.
“We must all own our disqualification. We clearly made a mistake and must ensure we learn from it. We will assess what happened and understand what went wrong.”
“The fact of losing a one-two finish is frustrating and we can only apologize to George who drove such a strong race.”
“Lewis is of course promoted to winner; he was the fastest guy on the two-stop strategy and is a deserving winner.”
“Despite the disqualification, there are many positives that we can take from this weekend.”
“We had a car that was the benchmark in today’s race across two different strategies. Only a few months ago, that would have been unthinkable.”
“We head into the summer break having won three of the last four races. We aim to return after the break fit and refreshed, with the goal of maintaining our positive trajectory.”
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Mercedes F1 Clarifies the Mistake Made on Russell’s Car Mercedes F1 Clarifies the Mistake Made on Russell’s Car
