Toto Wolff stated that Mercedes has “no excuse” and “clearly made a mistake” that resulted in George Russell losing his Belgian GP win due to a technical rules violation.
Russell was disqualified from the victory he secured ahead of his Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, after it was discovered that Russell’s W15 car was 1.5kg underweight during post-race inspections.
Following the race, there were inquiries regarding whether the one-stop strategy adopted by Russell contributed to his car being underweight.
Before the Spa stewards’ investigation results were revealed, Wolff commented, “No, I think it’s a one-stop that … and while you might expect rubber buildup, there’s simply no excuse.”
He was addressing a query about any known issues at Mercedes that could have led to Russell’s car being underweight.
Wolff further stated: “If the stewards determine it as a regulatory breach, then it stands as is.”
“We must learn from this, and as a team, there are certainly positives today for George, but it’s a significant setback for a driver whose childhood dream is to win these races, which feels unjustly taken from him.”
“However, he will have many more opportunities to win.”
George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
After Russell’s disqualification for violating Article 4.1 of F1’s technical regulations concerning minimum car weight, Hamilton was promoted to first place, prompting Mercedes to release a statement on Wolff’s behalf.
“We must accept our disqualification and learn from our mistake,” the statement read. “We recognize that a mistake was made, and it is crucial that we reflect and understand what went wrong.”
“Losing a potential 1-2 finish is frustrating, and we can only apologize to George for his excellent performance.”
“Lewis, of course, steps up to P1; he was the quickest on the two-stop and is a worthy champion.”
“Despite this disqualification, we can take away numerous positives from this weekend.”
“Our car set the benchmark in today’s race across two varied strategies, which seemed unimaginable just a few months ago.”
“As we enter the summer break, we celebrate winning three out of the last four races. We aim to return from the shutdown reinvigorated and focused on continuing our upward trend.”
