George Russell suffered minor damage in Barcelona, while Mercedes investigates Antonelli’s engine failure to avoid repeats across all powered teams.
James Allison provided details on the damage George Russell sustained when Max Verstappen collided with him at the end of the Spanish Grand Prix. The Mercedes F1 technical director confirmed that there will be no lasting consequences from the impact.
“We felt it, but not enough for it to still be an issue when we arrive at the next circuit. It’s just minor damage from the contact with the other car,” Allison stated.
The Briton believes Russell could have overtaken Charles Leclerc without the late-race neutralization: “There weren’t enough laps left in the race. A few more laps and that’s what would have happened.”
“But yes, we were quicker at the end of the race, quicker in the final stint, we were chasing Charles for some time. But the safety car threw a wrench in the works, and we didn’t have enough laps after the safety car to get the job done.”
Finally, Mercedes will look into Antonelli’s engine failure to ensure it doesn’t happen again in any of the eight cars running a Brixworth-built power unit. But it was indeed an engine failure: “That’s right, and I believe that’s what we’ve already said. But we don’t yet know what failed inside the engine.”
“It’s returned to Brixworth. They’re going to strip it down, determine what failed, develop recommendations for all the engines—not just in our team, but in the customer teams as well. And we hope it won’t happen again before the end of the season.”