During the British Grand Prix, George Russell is seen in the pit lane as he ends his race by retiring his Mercedes.
Fearing a potential grid penalty down the line, Mercedes explained their “preventative” step to retire George Russell from the British Grand Prix as a water system leak wrecked his race.
The victory race at Silverstone was thrown wide open by rain showers passing through, after Russell had led the early stages of the race from pole position.
Mercedes risking George Russell penalty without retirement
At the point where Russell was running P4, closing down Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, disaster struck as Mercedes made the call for him to retire his W15 from the British GP.
Mercedes trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, stated that the reason behind the issue was a water system leak. He further mentioned that they had been monitoring the leak since the beginning of the race. Shovlin also emphasized that George Russell had no possibility of finishing the race and continuing to race would only increase the likelihood of facing a grid penalty in future races.
Excluding the exhaust, Russell’s F1 2024 campaign adheres to the maximum allowance for all other engine components, with only one remaining.
During the post-British GP debrief at Mercedes, Shovlin discussed Russell’s DNF and stated, “Regrettably, we were aware of an issue quite early in the race, and we were monitoring it since the beginning of the first stint.”
“We were unaware of the terminal nature of the situation, but it stemmed from a leak in the water system which caused the pressure to gradually decline. As a result, when we decided to halt the car, it was to safeguard the power unit. Hence, we were well aware that completing the race was no longer possible.”
The goal was to avoid finishing the race and causing damage to the power unit, as that could result in a penalty later in the year. Therefore, it was a precautionary measure, knowing that we wouldn’t be able to reach the finish line.
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However, if Russell had managed to reach the finish line in an alternate scenario, Shovlin was questioned about his opinion on whether Russell had the speed to secure a podium finish or potentially win the British Grand Prix.
According to Shovlin, if Russell had not retired from the race, he believed there was a possibility for him to make a move and have a chance at overtaking Verstappen.
Shovlin expressed, “Given the unpredictable conditions and the intense competition in the race, it is difficult to determine our final position.”
“If the race had remained dry from start to finish, observing George’s excellent start and his ability to create a lead, it seems that he would have had a relatively uncomplicated afternoon.”
“However, when we made the decision to retire the car, we were using intermediates. At that moment, George was in P4 and was making progress towards catching up with Max, which seemed promising.”
In order for him to secure a podium finish, it would have been necessary for him to surpass Max at that moment, considering that we made the right decision to pit Lewis for dry tires. Therefore, it seems that the track conditions might have been too wet earlier on.
As previously mentioned, the minimum was P4, but there was a possibility to achieve a better position if he had managed to overtake Max on the intermediate track.
Afterwards, Lewis Hamilton, Russell’s teammate, emerged triumphant at the British Grand Prix, securing his remarkable ninth win at Silverstone, a new record.
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