Mercedes issues theory on why George Russell’s car was underweight after Belgian GP

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Mercedes has launched an investigation into why George Russell was disqualified from the win after the Belgian Grand Prix.

Russell took an unlikely victory when he converted to a one-stop strategy, having climbed up to the lead from sixth on the grid.

A few hours after the chequered flag, the FIA found Russell’s Mercedes to be underweight. He was summoned to the stewards, who eventually excluded him from the results for the technical infringement, and teammate Lewis Hamilton was promoted to the win.

Mercedes admitted that it was a genuine error in the immediate aftermath, but trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has offered a theory for why it happened speaking in their post-race press release.

Mercedes explains why George Russell was underweight

The stewards’ report noted that the fuel in Russell’s car was initially “not fully drained according to the draining procedure submitted by the team in their legality documents.”

Initially, the car was noted to be at the 798kg weight limit but after the FIA drained the remaining 2.8 litres of fuel the car was weighed again by the FIA and it showed up as 796.5kg.

This meant Russell was 1.5kg below the minimum weight, which Mercedes did not have an answer for when summoned to the stewards.

As it is a breach of the F1 technical regulations, the standard penalty that can be issued by the stewards is disqualification. Shovlin has offered a theory as to why it happened after Russell took on an ambitious pit strategy.

“It’s really tough for George to have been disqualified from the win after such an impressive drive. He did a brilliant job to hang onto the tyres and defend to the finish. We don’t yet understand why the car was underweight following the race but will investigate thoroughly to find the explanation,” said Shovlin.

“We expect that the loss of rubber from the one stop was a contributing factor, and we’ll work to understand how it happened. We won’t be making any excuses though. It is clearly not good enough and we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Disqualification costs George Russell valuable points

With the unexpected victory, Russell leapfrogged Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in the Drivers’ Championship to seventh place after he finished in eighth.

After being promoted back to seventh, Perez still faces further scrutiny over whether he will continue with Red Bull after the summer break.

READ MORE: Mercedes driver George Russell’s life outside F1 from net worth to height

Hamilton holds sixth position in the Drivers’ Championship with 150 points, while Max Verstappen still leads heading into the summer break with 277 points.

Mercedes currently sits fourth in the Constructors’ standings after 14 of the 24 races on 266 points, behind Ferrari, McLaren and championship leaders Red Bull.