Toto Wolff has stated that Mercedes holds “no excuses” and acknowledges they “clearly made a mistake,” which resulted in George Russell losing his Belgian GP victory due to a technical rules violation.
Russell was disqualified from the win he achieved ahead of his long-time race leader and teammate, Lewis Hamilton, after it was determined that Russell’s W15 was 1.5kg underweight during post-race inspections.
Following the race, there were inquiries about whether the one-stop strategy employed during the race might have contributed to Russell’s car being underweight.
Watch: Weight A Minute – The F1 Belgian Grand Prix News From the Paddock
Before the outcome of the Spa stewards’ investigation was revealed, Wolff remarked: “No, I think it’s a one-stop that … you expect lots of rubber, maybe more, but there’s no excuse.”
This comment was in response to inquiries about whether Mercedes had been aware of any issues that could have caused Russell’s car to be underweight.
Wolff continued, stating: “If the stewards consider this a breach of regulations, then that’s what it is.”
“We must learn from this, and as a team, there are positives from today, obviously for George, but this is a significant setback for a driver whose lifelong dream is to win races, which has now been taken from him.”
“But he will win many more.”
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 regarding minimum weight, Hamilton was awarded the win. Following this, Mercedes issued a statement on Wolff’s behalf.
“We must accept our disqualification gracefully,” the statement read. “We made a clear mistake and must ensure we learn from it.”
“We’ll thoroughly investigate what transpired and pinpoint the errors. Losing a potential 1-2 finish is frustrating, and we apologize to George for driving such an impressive race.”
“Lewis is rightly promoted to P1; he was undoubtedly the fastest on the two-stop strategy and deserves this win.”
“Despite the disqualification, there are numerous positives to take away from this weekend.”
“We had a car that set the benchmark in today’s race across multiple strategies. Just a few months prior, this was unimaginable.”
“As we approach the summer break, we celebrate winning three of the last four races. We aim to return rejuvenated after the break and continue our positive momentum.”
