Mercedes’ mechanic was caught breaking the front wing of George Russell’s W13 as Nyck de Vries was set to make his final appearance.
The Mexican Grand Prix’s first practice session was announced to be the last appearance for Nyck de Vries at Mercedes as the Dutch race driver is leaving this ship for Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri.
De Vries replaced George Russell for the session and, on the radio, thanked the team for their unending support over all the years. The 2019 F2 champion finished P18 in the session.
However, during his last dance for Mercedes, something unfortunate happened in Mercedes’ garage. A mechanic was caught costing the Silver Arrows around $300,000.
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George Russell’s car gets heavy damage
A video soon surfaced after the FP1 where a mechanic lifting Russell’s W13 broke while being lifted by a crew member. The crack was right from where the nose and the front wing get attached to the chassis.
The total cost of that equipment is worth $300,000, a huge expense for the Brackley-based team, considering the budget caps include the repair cost.
Only a few hours before this incident, Red Bull got fined $7 million and a 10% deduction in aero development for breaching the budget by $2 million. Thus, a heavy bill was generated while the car was not even in action and was in its safest spot.
Red Bull didn’t breach the budget cap by that much
FIA released its verdict on Friday, and an interesting point was shared. The governing body highlighted that considering Red Bull reported a tax credit correctly. They only breached the budget by $500,000.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner claims they accept the verdict and won’t push the matter anymore. But he still maintains that the reported budget breach gained no competitive edge.
Meanwhile, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has backtracked from his earlier statement to breach the cap to gain a competitive edge. He now says it’s not worth risking the team’s reputation by going over budget to gain some competitive advantage.
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