Mercedes to launch REVIEW after Hamilton and Russell incident
Mercedes to launch REVIEW after Hamilton and Russell incident
Mercedes chief technical officer Mike Elliott has admitted that the team will 'review the footage' of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell after the pair were involved in some late drama during Saturday's sprint shootout.
At the end of sprint qualifying in Spa, the Mercedes duo were sent out together late on in the session. Both drivers believed that they had to rush to make the line before the chequered flag, yet in reality they had more time than they first thought.
As a result, Hamilton was right behind Russell as he was starting his final flying lap. The man from King's Lynn then made an error at the top of Raidillon and not only ruined his own lap but forced his team-mate to back out of the throttle too.
READ MORE: Hamilton reveals Russell's STRUGGLE in Mercedes F1 car
And now Elliott has revealed that the team will review the incident to work out what went wrong when he was asked about it during Mercedes' race debrief on their official YouTube channel.
Mercedes to review Spa incident
“In order to explain that [how the incident happened], I think I first need to explain how difficult it is to get right in the first place," he said.
“When you’ve got a track that is drying, it is nearly always the case that the quickest lap is going to be the very last lap of the run.
“And so your first laps are about getting a banker lap in, and then as you get to the end of the session you want to be at the right place so you are just about crossing the line at the end of the session with your tyres in the right window.
“So we are pretty much heading towards that, but what we could see was that in the last corner, in [turns] 18 and 19, where you sort of get to open the lap, there was a lot of queuing, a lot of cars there.
“And so we were worried about trying to get over that line before the session ended. And we were asking our drivers to speed up. They thought they had less time available than they really did. And as a result of that, we ended up with two cars too close together.
“As it happened. I think a number of cars were disadvantaged. A number of the cars were far too close together, so we weren't the only ones that were struggling.
“Unfortunately for us, two drivers tripping over each other, pretty much meant that we didn't get the laps that we wanted and therefore didn't get the sprint qualifying result we really hoped for...
“We will review the footage, we'll review the radio communications, we'll see what learnings we can extract and work out how we can improve for the future. I am definitely sure that there are some learnings we can extract from this weekend.”
READ MORE: Verstappen reveals 'IMPOSSIBLE' task to overtake one F1 driver
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Hamilton hit with SURPRISE Ferrari claim as new Cullen relationship blossoms - GPFans F1 Recap
- 58 minutes ago
Current F1 star qualifies for world championship race on two wheels
- 1 hour ago
Ricciardo given HUGE boost after upgrade claim
- 2 hours ago
‘Absolute b******s’ - Newey’s wife SLAMS Red Bull F1 claims
- 3 hours ago
Norris INJURED at party with legendary DJ
- Yesterday 19:57
Newey tipped to POACH key Red Bull staff if he joins F1 rivals
- Yesterday 18:57
Related news
Mercedes reveal shock RED livery to celebrate historic milestone
Verstappen 'to meet Mercedes over SHOCK 2025 move as Red Bull exit clause revealed'
BLOW for former F1 champion as Mercedes preferences revealed
Mercedes star tipped to replace struggling driver THIS season
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860