Mercedes reveal miraculous garage effort after Hamilton crash
Mercedes reveal miraculous garage effort after Hamilton crash
Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott has revealed the remarkable speed of the work completed by Lewis Hamilton's mechanics that allowed the seven-time F1 champion to get practice running under his belt in Austria.
Hamilton had crashed heavily at turn seven during Friday's qualifying at the Red Bull Ring and was in danger of completing no race preparation in second practice ahead of the sprint and grand prix.
Team principal Toto Wolff had described the garage scene as if someone had dropped Lego on the floor with George Russell's car also damaged following his own qualifying crash.
But whilst Russell was able to participate in most of FP2, Hamilton's repairs were far more extensive, although he successfully made it on track with 11 minutes remaining.
"You probably saw we managed to get George out about five minutes into FP2 and with Lewis, we were about halfway through the session," said Elliott.
"There is a huge amount of work that went into getting those cars ready. In Lewis's case, he had done so much damage to the chassis, actually only cosmetic damage but damage that we couldn’t fix in the field, we had to sort of build his car from scratch on Saturday morning."
Mercedes amazing turnaround revealed
Before F1's finances began to become regulated in the mid-to-late 2000s, teams would take a spare car - or T-Car, as it was commonly known - in case of major, irreparable damage to the main chassis.
But with teams only able to use a spare chassis and not a complete car in modern F1, Mercedes was faced with a mountain to climb.
"[Hamilton's] car had to be built from nothing, fitting the engine, the gearbox, all the suspension, all of the sort of car systems that bolt around the chassis, all had to be put in place," added Elliott.
"The mechanics managed to do that in three and a half hours on Saturday morning, which is an amazing achievement and all credit to them for actually getting us back out and into FP2.
"And the advantage of getting out into FP2 is that you can actually make sure that the setup on Lewis's car was right, that the balance was right and that he was happy with the car in time for the sprint.”
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Vettel announces F1 return as FIA single Mercedes out for Miami checks - GPFans F1 Recap
- 36 minutes ago
F1 team announce SHOCK signing weeks after rival departure
- 1 hour ago
Former team boss quizzed on role in Newey's Red Bull exit
- 2 hours ago
RB reveal STRIKING new livery ahead of Miami GP
- 3 hours ago
EXCLUSIVE: Insider claims F1 Academy and W Series couldn't co-exist
- Yesterday 19:57
Wolff delivers big verdict on Hamilton behaviour
- Yesterday 18:57
Related news
Hamilton and Wolff centre stage as F1 shuts down New York for new emoji launch
F1 wonderkid in Imola TEST amid driver replacement reports
Mercedes reveal shock RED livery to celebrate historic milestone
Verstappen 'to meet Mercedes over SHOCK 2025 move as Red Bull exit clause revealed'
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