The Mercedes F1 team has revealed the extent of the damage caused by the two crashes in the F1 Austrian Grand Prix qualifying. It was jeopardizing their rest of the weekend.
Lewis Hamilton felt the top three potential at the W13 at the Red Bull Ring on Friday, suggesting that qualifying performance was competing to reach that goal.
But it wasn’t until Q3, when Lewis Hamilton crashed into the barrier and teammate George Russell crashed shortly after the session resumed.
After the crash, Lewis Hamilton was forced to replace the chassis, and the repair work on both cars was even longer.
In a debriefing video of the Mercedes F1 Team’s Austrian Grand Prix, technical director Mike Elliott said, “If two cars crash, it will always be a very difficult weekend.”
“The car suffered a lot of damage. Both floors broke, both rear wings broke, and the suspension was also quite damaged. In Lewis’s car, the front wing was also damaged and the chassis had some appearance. It was damaged. It was a damage that could be repaired but not on the weekends, which means that on Saturday morning we had to completely rebuild Lewis’s car from scratch. “
“So the car had to be built from scratch and had to install and place everything in the engine, gearbox, all suspensions, all kinds of car systems bolted around the chassis. “
“Mechanics were able to do it on Saturday morning in three and a half hours. This is an amazing achievement and it’s their credit to actually bring us back to FP2.”
“And the advantage of going to FP2 was that we could actually see that Lewis’s car was set up correctly, balanced and he was happy with the car in time for the sprint.”
But at this point, the lack of spare parts became a big problem for the Mercedes F1.
With only one spare floor and one rear wing, Mercedes F1 had to create another floor from the recoverable parts of the parts involved in the crash. Meanwhile, the rear wing was handed over to Lewis Hamilton to help start the sprint from 9th place and pass the puck.
As a result, George Russell ran in the rear wing, which was not optimal for the Red Bull Ring.
“That meant trying to build one of the two floors,” Elliott continued.
“We had only one complete spare to install, so we had to make the most of the two crashed floors to build another floor.”
“It also meant that George’s rear wing was compromised because there was only one complete spare rear wing that he chose to fit in Lewis’s car. It was probably not the ideal level of downforce and The downforce was a little too big for that circuit.
“After rebuilding the car, I had to dial the setup again. The time to do it in FP2 was very limited and it was always another compromise. Eventually two cars on Friday. Due to the terrible damage to the car, the driver was in a position where he might not have been able to race on Sunday if he suffered damage in the sprint race. “
“Therefore, all of them need to be taken into account, and all of them have forced a compromise over the weekend.”
Lewis Hamilton recovered and took the podium in 3rd place, and took the podium for 3 consecutive races. George Russell’s race was hampered by a collision with Sergio Perez on lap 1 and the resulting 5-second penalty, but he was still checked in 4th place.
Mike Elliott added possible reasons why both drivers crashed in Q3, adding that the podium and fourth place at the Grand Prix showed that Mercedes F1 was “starting a step forward” to the front.
“Looking at Friday, I think we were encouraged by our pace. In qualifying, I think we had a chance to be in the front row of the grid, which we didn’t see in recent races, and we had various qualifying sessions. think”
Perhaps that’s why both cars ended up in two accidents. The driver was trying to find that extra little in the car and was trying to put himself on the front row of the grid. He believes the car had the potential for that pace. “
“We want to be the fastest car we can fight at the front. I think it was a good result for us on a circuit like this and what we brought into the car is the step we want. I hope I can continue to take steps like this and be in a position to compete at the front in every race. “
Category: Category: F1 / Mercedes / F1 Austria GP