George Russell suffered a heartbreak at the Belgian GP, the last race before F1 entered the summer break for three weeks. He crossed the finish line in P1, but the FIA found his car to be underweight, which resulted in disqualification. Russell recently revealed that this affected his sleep.
When asked how his summer break went, Russell said (to F1 media ahead of the Dutch GP), “The summer break was great. I didn’t think too much about racing – then last weekend I struggled to sleep, thinking about tire pressures and springs! [In Spa] clearly, we didn’t do a good enough job. We exceeded our expectation of how much weight we’d lose, including myself“.
BREAKING: #BelgianGP winner George Russell has been disqualified from the race for an underweight car #F1 pic.twitter.com/SfEgH61NzG
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 28, 2024
Russell admitted to the mistake both he and Mercedes made with the last statement. Several experts explained how Russell and Mercedes had not anticipated the excess amount of tire wear that would take place, which would eventually result in the Briton’s car losing weight.
In most races on the calendar, Russell could have found ways to add weight to his W15 by picking up marbles (small pieces of rubber) on the track. But that wasn’t possible at Spa, because there was no cooldown lap and drivers had to enter the pits from the wrong side as soon as they crossed the chequered flag.
Russell’s disqualification promoted his teammate Lewis Hamilton to P1. As a result of that, the 39-year-old became only the second driver in 2024 to win more than one race after Max Verstappen.
Russell looking forward to the second half of 2024
Russell has put the disappointment of the Belgian GP behind him. The 26-year-old admitted that he is now looking forward to the remaining 10 races of the 2024 campaign, and praised Mercedes for the way they improved.
“We are improving drastically,” he said. “But it doesn’t accurately reflect. McLaren are quick, and Red Bull have been a bit more up and down“.
Russell is keen to approach the rest of the season race by race. Because, looking at the whole championship picture, it would be very difficult for Mercedes to move up the standings, despite their recent resurgence.
As things stand, the Silver Arrows are P4 and 81 points behind third-placed Ferrari. With just 10 races remaining in the 2024 season, Mercedes will have to consistently outscore the Maranello-based outfit to better their chances of finishing P3 or higher.
