Mercedes explain Russell electronic gun pit-stop issue
Mercedes explain Russell electronic gun pit-stop issue
Mercedes director of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin has explained the issue during George Russell's pit-stop that left the Briton struggling for grip at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Russell finished a stellar fourth from 11th on the grid after making the most of the first corner meleé triggered by Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz to ensure he kept his record of being the only driver to have finished in the top five in each of the opening four races.
The former Williams driver was making advances towards Lando Norris but when pitting to change from intermediates to slicks as the track dried, Mercedes failed to get the desired tweaks to the front wing needed to alter the set-up.
This left Russell severely lacking front-end grip, resulting in understeer for the majority of the race and putting him firmly in the clutches of a charging Valtteri Bottas.
Whilst he was able to fend off the Alfa Romeo, Russell was unable to close on Norris to threaten for a second successive podium.
Detailing the issue that cost Russell, Shovlin said: “When we make an adjustment at a pit stop we actually use an electronic gun that can put a pre-programmed number of turns in there.
"We have to do that because the stops have gotten so quick you can no longer make a manual adjustment where the mechanics on the front wing would count the number of turns.
"We have a gun that does this and we can programme how many turns we want it to do and it will deliver that.
"The issue we had with this particular stop was actually that both guns had got knocked as they went in on the front wing endplate, the front-wing endplates on these cars are much bigger and that had caused the gun to reset."
Insisting the issue had never happened before, Shovlin added: "So, it wasn’t so much that anything had broken.
"It was really one of those issues that was a feature of the changes that we have made on the car, it hadn’t occurred to us before in practice sessions where we are trying pit stops or pit stop practice itself.
"But that was why we didn’t actually get any adjust on George's stop and the upshot was that we had to drive the entire stint with that much lower flap angle that we would normally run in the wet.”
F1 daily poll
Change your timezone:
Latest News
F1 Chinese Grand Prix weather forecast - latest today from Shanghai
- 8 minutes ago
Hamilton opens up on Wolff talks over Ferrari move as Verstappen SLAMS F1 decision - GPFans F1 Recap
- Today 00:27
F1 Sprint Qualifying Today: Chinese Grand Prix 2024 start times, schedule and TV
- Yesterday 23:27
Marko suggests 'exciting' move to REPLACE Ricciardo
- Yesterday 22:57
F1 Practice Today: Chinese Grand Prix 2024 start times, schedule and TV
- Yesterday 22:27
2024 Sprint changes show F1 is listening to fix imperfect format
- Yesterday 21:57
Related news
Wolff 'p*****' by Verstappen error as star makes Mercedes debut
Hamilton to open Wolff talks at Mercedes amid Ferrari F1 move uncertainty
Mercedes announce MAJOR £5.9 million loss in profits
Verstappen admits new Mercedes relationship with F1 future update
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