George Russell has lost his sixth place on the grid for the United States Grand Prix as a result of his crash at the end of qualifying.
Mercedes confirmed they have reverted Russell’s car to the specification they ran at the Singapore Grand Prix while repairing the damage caused by his shunt at turn 19.
The team introduced an extensive upgrade to its W15 this weekend. They are running a revised floor, updated suspension and revisions to their sidepod inlets.
The work on Russell’s car continued for more than two hours after the end of qualifying. This put the team in breach of the regulations, meaning Russell will have to start the race from the pit lane.
Russell crashed during his final run in Q3. He originally qualified sixth and his penalty will promote Pierre Gasly to his position.
As the other cars behind Gasly also move up, Lewis Hamilton will take 17th on the grid in the other Mercedes. He said yesterday he would prefer to start from the pit lane and have the opportunity to make more changes to his car, but as it stands he is set to start from the grid.
Mercedes have been mystified by the performance of their car this weekend. Both drivers were in contention for pole position for the sprint race but found the car’s balance less satisfactory in the second qualifying session, where Hamilton failed to progress beyond Q1.
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Team principal Toto Wolff said yesterday was “disappointing and frustrating” for the team. “After a strong Friday, we were hopeful of a good showing and it quickly became clear in the sprint [race] that we didn’t have the pace of our nearest competitors, falling back to finish a distant P5 and P6.
“Added to that, the handling balance both drivers had enjoyed the day before was missing and they were struggling with tyre overheating – Lewis on the rear axle, George on the front. We made some set-up changes to tackle this ahead of qualifying, but we continued to struggle and couldn’t unlock the same level of performance we had seen on Friday.”
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2024 United States Grand Prix
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