George Russell almost made the one-stop strategy work at the Belgian GP as he crossed the chequered flag in P1. However, he failed to win the race after the FIA carried out some post-race checks and disqualified him since his car was under the weight limit. Now, Mercedes has concluded that it was indeed their one-stop strategy that prevented Russell from winning the race.
After investigating where they went wrong, Andrew Shovlin pointed at the additional loss of rubber because of the one-stop as a reason why Russell’s car was underweight. However, Jolyon Palmer believes otherwise.
In the latest Jolyon Palmer F1 Analysis video, the former F1 driver looked at Russell’s disqualification from the Belgian GP. Palmer explained in detail how tires shred weight over the race distance.
Heartbreaking… We came in 1.5kg underweight and have been disqualified from the race.
We left it all on the track today and I take pride in crossing the line first.
There will be more to come. pic.twitter.com/6RfucAqPyF
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) July 28, 2024
Palmer then pointed to the fact that Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll did almost the same amount of laps as Russell on hard tires, but their cars were still not under the weight limit. Alonso ran at a competitive pace and finished P8 after Russell’s disqualification.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc did 18 and 19 laps respectively on their hards compared to Russell’s 34. A 15-lap delta between the tires shouldn’t be enough to strip 1.5kgs of the four tires, as per Palmer. And even if it did, Palmer pointed at the buffer weight that teams account for before starting a race.
While the long stint did play some part in Russell’s car losing 1.5 kg, it arguably wasn’t the sole reason why the car was underweight. Mercedes made changes overnight after the Friday practice session. This potentially could’ve been another reason behind the miscalculation. Palmer then also talked about Mercedes not adding enough ballast to the car.
Teams try to make the car as light as possible and add ballast later on to make the weight limit. This ballast helps to shift the balance of the car by adding weight to a specific area. Regardless, Palmer believes that Mercedes should’ve accounted for all these factors.
Palmer criticizes Mercedes for their lack of preparation at Spa
Since cars need to have a weight of at least 798 kgs after drivers cross the chequered flag, 1.5 kgs should not make much of a difference to the pace advantage a racer is likely to get during a Grand Prix. According to reports, 1.5 kg would account for only about 0.05 second gain per lap and a total of two seconds over the race distance.
Therefore, despite the fact that the top three finished within two seconds of each other, having a heavier car perhaps wouldn’t have stopped Russell from winning. Regardless, Palmer slammed Mercedes for their miscalculations as the FIA makes decisions as per the rule book, which is the same for everyone.
Teams are aware that cars return to the pits from the wrong side at Spa and don’t do a cool-down lap after the race. Since F1 has been racing at Spa for years, Palmer believes Mercedes should have known better and taken a better strategy call with Russell.
