During the two-and-a-half hour window between George Russell winning the Belgian Grand Prix and him being disqualified, a dismayed Lewis Hamilton was trying to work out how his team mate had come from behind to beat him.
Hamilton took the lead early in the race but when he made his second pit stop Russell rose to the front. Russell then persuaded Mercedes not to bring him in a second time, which won him the race on-track, though the additional wear this caused to his tyres may have led to his subsequent disqualification.That detail was not yet known when a despondent Hamilton claimed he had wanted the same strategy as his team mate. “If you listen [to the radio chatter] you could have heard what I said to the team most of the time.
“I think the tyres were pretty good. I still had plenty of tyres and I was going quicker. I didn’t want to stop.”
But as Mercedes’ radio chatter from the race reveals, while Hamilton was clearly beginning to think his second set of tyres could go the distance as he approached the pits on lap 26, he wasn’t ready to commit to it.
Hamilton and Russell’s Belgian GP radio
Jump to:
“Target plus eight”
“The tyres are still good though”
“I’m still going green”
“So that is George ahead”
“Am I on target to beat him or not?”
“Are you saying Piastri’s behind me?”
“Give each other plenty of space”
“Tyre whisperer!”
“Target plus eight”
By lap 20, all the front runners had made their first pit stops. Hamilton was leading Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri.
Russell had just moved up into fourth place by overtaking Sergio Perez with a move which impressed his race engineer Marcus Dudley.
At this stage Mercedes expected to pit both their drivers a second time. However they had already noticed the tyre life was better than they forecast: Hamilton was told he would make his second stop four laps later than planned, Russell eight:
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| Lap: 21/44 HAM: 1’48.396, RUS: 1’47.763 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Really nice job. Really good job. Well done, mate. That was really good use of the energy there. So Piastri next car, four seconds ahead. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | So Perez has pitted, got Verstappen 2.1. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 22/44 HAM: 1’48.368, RUS: 1’48.588 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Similar pace to Leclerc and Perez. George 47.7. | Dudley | George strat six. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | So Piastri ahead of doing 48.4 on that hard tyre. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 23/44 HAM: 1’48.338, RUS: 1’48.412 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Currently target plus four. | Dudley | And George recommend using de-rate button here. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Lewis at the front doing 48.4 currently. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | What kind of de-rate? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | This is for pack management. So we want de-rate for pack management. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 24/44 HAM: 1’48.028, RUS: 1’48.325 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Tyres feel good. | Dudley | Battery is looking better now mate. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Good improvement turn 14, gap 2.5. Leclerc 48.4, just keep ekeing that gap out slowly. | Dudley | So we are currently target plus eight. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | How many laps have I done so far? | Russell | Tyres feel like they’re starting to stabilise. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | [Unclear] four laps. And it’s been 14 on this tyre. | Dudley | Copy. So we just keep closing this gap to Piastri. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“The tyres are still good though”
Leclerc made his second pit stop on lap 25, which prompted Mercedes to take action. Hamilton was summoned in on the next lap.
He was clearly hesitant about committing to a second stop, telling the team more than once his tyres were still in good shape. But his race engineer Peter Bonnington told him the team wanted to ensure they did not fall behind Leclerc.
Russell, who was keeping an eye on his rivals’ movements using the video screens around the circuits, would have understood the implications of Leclerc’s pit stop for Mercedes’ strategy. Approaching the final chicane and the pit lane entrance, he also told Mercedes his tyres were in good shape:
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| Lap: 25/44 HAM: 1’47.845, RUS: 1’47.992 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Leclerc pit lane now. | Dudley | So main lap time loss turn 10, 12, 13. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | So it’ll be strat mode four, strat four. | Russell | Front feels like it’s sliding too much in 10. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 26/44 HAM: 1’52.047, RUS: 1’47.759 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Kemmel Tyres are good. The same distance? |
Dudley | Understood. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Approaching Pouhon Lewis we’ll box, box. |
Dudley | So Leclerc has boxed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Think about the one-stop. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | So it’ll be 18 laps remaining end of this lap. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Is it the same distance I’m going? | Russell | Approaching chicane Tyres feel good. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Plus three laps. | Dudley | Copy that. We’ve got Lewis in pits now. So Perez right on your window at the moment doing 48.0. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Exiting Pouhon The balance is good now. I’d say plus one. |
Russell | Yeah, tyres are good. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Exiting Paul Frere The tyres are still good though. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Copy. We’ll still cover so box, box. Currently three-and-a-half seconds safe to Leclerc. Hamilton pits |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“I’m still going green”
While Mercedes began to worry where Russell’s second pit stop was going to leave him, he pressed the team to gamble on not bringing him in again. Within a couple of laps they had come around to the idea:
| Lap: 27/44 HAM: 2’01.300, RUS: 1’47.707 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | So George, we need to give it everything we’ve got ekeing out this gap to Perez. We’re going to have Norris an undercut threat soon. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Are you sure these tyres won’t go ’til the end? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | They will. But we think it’s quicker to stop. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 28/44 HAM: 1’47.396, RUS: 1’47.665 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | At the moment they’re just getting quicker and quicker, the tyres. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | We’re discussing. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | We’ve got Verstappen in the pits now. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Yeah affirm. I’m still going green, mate. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Affirm. So 16 laps remaining, Verstappen going onto the medium tyre. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“So that is George ahead”
Hamilton emerged from his pit stop behind Piastri and Russell, who were yet to pit.
His second pit stop gave Mercedes crucial information which likely emboldened them to stick with Russell’s one-stop strategy. Neither driver had run the hard tyres in practice, and when the first set came off Hamilton’s car in the race they discovered the wear was lower than expected. They reported this back to Hamilton, and checked that Russell was happy not to pit again:
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| Lap: 29/44 HAM: 1’47.429, RUS: 1’47.760 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | How far ahead is he? | Dudley | So Norris in the pits now. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | It’s 13 seconds. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Is that him up ahead, I can see? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | So that is George ahead, eight seconds. Tyre wear previous set very, very low. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | So Piastri 47.6. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | What time do I need to be doing? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 30/44 HAM: 1’47.031, RUS: 1’47.628 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Lewis we think something in the mid-46, mid-46. | Dudley | You’ve got Lewis car behind, eight seconds, currently 47.4. Piastri boxing this lap. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | So Piastri is pitting. Piastri pits now. George 7.2 ahead, 47.6. | Dudley | And George, just confirming you’re happy to stay out. We’ve got three cars now… | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 31/44 HAM: 1’47.182, RUS: 1’47.480 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Are we safe with the situation with the McLaren behind pit stop? | Russell | Yes. Copy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Affirm, safe behind. | Dudley | …in our pit window. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | So George 47.5. | Dudley | Lewis 47.2. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | How far is he ahead? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | 6.8. You’ve got 12 laps remaining when you cross the line. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“Am I on target to beat him or not?”
McLaren did not risk a one-stop for Piastri, which put Russell in the lead of the race ahead of Hamilton, who was gaining by around half a second per lap. Hamilton checked with his team whether he was on course to catch Russell, and was told there wouldn’t be much in it:
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| Lap: 32/44 HAM: 1’47.003, RUS: 1’47.596 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | There is a weakness anywhere? | Dudley | Think about one gear higher turns 12,13. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | So only losses to George mid-speed turn seven but they are small. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 33/44 HAM: 1’46.653, RUS: 1’47.315 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | So George a 47.3. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Gap? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Gap is at 5.8. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | How much quicker than him? Am I on target to beat him or not? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | It’s close. It is close. George, 24-lap hard tyres. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“Are you saying Piastri’s behind me?”
In a brief moment of confusion, it emerged Hamilton hadn’t immediately realised Piastri had pitted and dropped behind him. Aside from updates on the gaps between the two Mercedes drivers, the radios increasingly fell quiet as they raced to the end.
Russell later said this was the stage in the race where he realised he had a genuine chance to win.
“I was watching the TV screens every lap, down after Eau Rouge, and looking at the gap. They just weren’t catching me as quick as I expected and my lap times were just improving every single lap.
“That was far from what we all anticipated. But it just goes to show how difficult it is to predict. I think every lap we were driving, 20 drivers, full gas around this circuit and it was just getting faster and faster. The grip was improving and the tyres just felt really in a great state.”
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| Lap: 35/44 HAM: 1’46.729, RUS: 1’47.562 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Gap to Piastri at 3.6. Gap to Piastri at 3.6. | Dudley | Ten laps remaining. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Half a lap later Wait, are you saying Piastri’s behind me? |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Piastri, Leclerc are racing. Still Leclerc behind. 4.5 seconds. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Okay. Gap ahead? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | 4.4. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | Any areas I can improve? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Exit turn 19 only area to improve. George was 47.5. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 36/44 HAM: 1’46.931, RUS: 1’47.620 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | So Piastri now through, gap 5.6. | Dudley | Eight laps remaining. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | So pace still strong for George, 27-lap hard tyre. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 37/44 HAM: 1’47.042, RUS: 1’47.919 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | George gap behind Lewis is six seconds to Piastri. And that’s a group of four cars. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 38/44 HAM: 1’46.747, RUS: 1’47.600 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Six laps remaining. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Green three, position one. Green three, position one. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 39/44 HAM: 1’47.054, RUS: 1’47.796 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Gap 1.3. | Dudley | Five laps remaining. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | George just keep this clean. Still got that gap to Piastri, five seconds behind Lewis. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Three laps remaining. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“Give each other plenty of space”
As Hamilton finally drew within range, the Mercedes pit wall grew anxious at the possibility a late collision could cost them a one-two. But overtaking proved so difficult at Spa it never looked like a realistic outcome.
| Lap: 40/44 HAM: 1’47.125, RUS: 1’47.631 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Gap at 0.9. So think about strat 13. Make sure you give each other plenty of space. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Gap at 0.7. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Gap at 0.8. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 41/44 HAM: 1’47.622, RUS: 1’47.754 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Gap to Piastri at 2.8. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 42/44 HAM: 1’47.387, RUS: 1’47.465 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Two more laps when we cross the line. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“Tyre whisperer!”
Even as Hamilton drew closer in his team mate’s turbulent air, he continued to chip down his lead until the penultimate lap. With that, Russell had seemingly made it.
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| Lap: 43/44 HAM: 1’47.388, RUS: 1’47.301 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | One more lap when we cross the line. Piastri 1.2 behind. | Dudley | So it’ll be one more lap when we cross the line. It’ll be strat five for the final lap. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Strat mode five. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 44/44 HAM: 1’47.034, RUS: 1’47.113 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnington | Well done, Lewis. Top effort there, mate. So down the pit lane please mate. | Dudley | Late overtake press available. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Ha ha ha! Come on! Woo. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Go down the pit lane the wrong way. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Oh boys and girls what a performance. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Wow! Well done. Awesome work. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Oh yes! Amazing strategy guys. Amazing strategy. You guys are the best! Come on! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | Some pretty good driving as well. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Yeah that was alright. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dudley | So just look out for people in the fast lane. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Yes! Woo-hoo! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wolff | Tyre whisperer, tyre whisperer! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Russell | Tyre whisperer… | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Russell wasn’t the only driver to complete the race with a single stop – the Aston Martin drivers did the same, as did Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda. But he was the only driver among the four leading teams to do so.
“I was still questioning why nobody else did it,” he admitted afterwards. “I thought ‘I must be missing something here’ because everybody’s peeling into the pits.”Unfortunately for Russell, his doubts turned out to be misplaced as his car fell one-and-a-half kilograms shy of the minimum weight limit after the chequered flag and he was disqualified. Suspicion inevitably fell on the unanticipated additional tyre wear as the cause of the infringement, though it remains to be seen whether some other factor was also at play.
As for Hamilton, if he felt foolish at first for not pushing for the same strategy as his team mate, that must have been replaced by relief when word of Russell’s disqualification came through.
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AlanD
30th July 2024, 12:09
“At the moment they’re just getting quicker and quicker, the tyres.”
Maybe that was the moment they started losing weight. It occurs to me that if Russell had done a really long opening stint on hards, and then one stopped onto super softs at the end, he’d have been okay no matter how much weight the hards had lost. Might not have been a race-winning strategy but it does highlight a loophole in the regs.
I remember a time when F1 had grooved tyres, the point of the grooves being to reduce grip to try to keep speeds down. They had to introduce a new scrutineering rule that the tyres still needed grooves at the end of the race after someone had driven on one set for the whole race, worn them so much that the grooves had disappeared and they’d turned into slicks and were running faster.
amped
30th July 2024, 22:41
The tyres are not to blame for Russell’s car being underweight, that is the result of something else the team did. Alonso also did a one-stop and his car still met the minimum weight.
F1 tyres don’t wear all that much in reality either to the point that they would lose such a significant amount of weight, the degradation they go through is more thermal rather than physical loss of rubber, and Russell hardly overused his tyres to the point he hit ‘the cliff’ either. He was able to hold off Hamilton and Piastri wasn’t gaining that much on them.
Either someone mucked up or Mercedes’ were knowingly racing with an underweight car.
anon
31st July 2024, 7:56
amped, as a theory, it is not without precedent – when Kubica was disqualified from 7th place in the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix for being 2kg underweight, he pinned the blame for that on the amount of wear on his tyres.
Gorilla
31st July 2024, 17:49
Alonso pitted the last lap for new yellows
Sumedh
30th July 2024, 12:14
The long stint definitely played a role in the weight management.
One ESPN article stated that each tyre loses around 1 kg in a typical stint, an auto sport article states that a set of 4 tyres loses 3 kg in a typical stint.
George did almost 2 stints on that tyre. Assuming linear loss of weight he lost 3-4 kg of overall weight which is significantly more than the 1.5 kg he fell short of.
Ideally it should be the strategy team’s job to remind this to Russell. A miss from their side for sure.
AlanD
30th July 2024, 13:14
Good info on the tyres. I’ve seen various estimates that the weight advantage could equal two to four seconds over the race distance, and at the finish line, there was only a couple of seconds covering the top three, so it would be hard to argue that the weight deficit was ind=significant.
Bob
30th July 2024, 21:12
You read it wrong,
” A set of F1 tyres (minus rims) weigh 42kg when new, but can lose as much as 3kg in wear during a long stint. ”
https://www.espn.co.uk/racing/f1/story/_/id/40666877/how-mercedes-inexcusable-dq-cost-george-russell-f1-win-spa
Also, GR’s car was checked again with the pre approved tyres on, and his tyres was removed from the car and checked. You can watch it on teds notebook who was live as it happened…..
AlanD
31st July 2024, 11:55
Bob, not sure where you think Sumedh read it wrong. Also not sure what the last sentence means. Are you saying that they changed tyres on Russell’s car and weighed it again, and if so, was it still underweight when they did that?
Ole Brummer (@andrewwj)
30th July 2024, 12:36
Not quite on the last sentence. ALO also scored points on his one-stopper.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
30th July 2024, 12:43
Good point, I’ve amended that, thanks.
AlanD
30th July 2024, 13:05
Remember that all cars still running at the end of the race are weighed, so the four cars which did one-stoppers would all have been weighed, but only one of them, Russell, was found to be underweight.
Ajaxn
30th July 2024, 14:48
Russell was the first to pit on lap 11, so of course he drove the longest on that second set of tires.
Nick T.
30th July 2024, 14:47
He’s often forgotten.
notagrumpyfan
30th July 2024, 12:43
I miss the “pick up as many marbles as you can” message after the finish.
And it would be convenient had he found a Union Jack (ideally with flag pole), as often those flags are not discarded when they are weighted.
André
30th July 2024, 17:29
Because there is no cool down lap in Spa.
AlanD
30th July 2024, 13:07
Several people have posted saying he would have been okay had he been able to pick up marbles. But if he’d have been able to do that, so too would the other cars, and they could have run a kilo or two lighter as well.
Postreader
30th July 2024, 13:44
Exactly.
And as far as I remember, no car has been specifically disqualified due to being underweight from tire degradation after a one-stopper.
Russel’s car was just much closer of being afoul of that particular rule than any other car, possibly in a very long time.
CedricT
30th July 2024, 15:11
@Postreader
Kubica got disqualified in Hungary 2006 because he was 2kg underweight:
https://web.archive.org/web/20060813120526/http://www.formula1.com/race/news/4783/763.html
AlanD
30th July 2024, 18:32
Cedric, thanks for finding that example. According to the article, Kubica was running full wets on a drying track which degraded more than they had anticipated.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
30th July 2024, 13:07
If the radio messages were unheard, that explains why the strategy change never happened.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
30th July 2024, 13:19
Lewis ended up winning but he still must have mixed feelings about this victory and he has the entire break to sleep on it which is not good. What a terrible race to make that call for no result. I can’t imagine if the result had stuck over the summer break.
Mercedes struck gold with the car being underweight…
Grapmg
30th July 2024, 13:49
The Devil is in the details. As far as I know the message “remember to pick up some marbles” has always been part of F1. But never realised that wasn’t possible in Spa. So the team must have known about this upfront when they calculate the weight including predicted tire wear/marbles and pitstop strategy. So maybe Mercedes already knew they could be in trouble with Russel before the finish line. Toto also didn’t look happy considering they just had a 1-2 finish. So it shows how close to the limit they are on every detail. Hamilton is lucky he didn’t asked for the same strategy as they both would have been dsq.
AlanD
30th July 2024, 18:42
Grap, “As far as I know the message “remember to pick up some marbles” has always been part of F1.”
I think I remember it first from urray Walker and James Hunt days, so it has certainly been around a long time, but I also seem to remember them saying over the years that this was just the engineers being cautious, not relying on the marbles to get them back to legal weight, but rather giving them a bit of insurace in case they had miscalculated somewhere.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
30th July 2024, 21:11
Murray made me think of losing marbles rather than picking them up.
Grapmg
31st July 2024, 8:26
That shows how much Mercedes is in the limit to be comparative. When they had a dominant car I guess they just started with some more weight just to be sure.
Had to lookup what “losing your marbles” means, didn’t know that from Murray
Hotbottoms (@hotbottoms)
30th July 2024, 14:01
Russell made a good call and executed it very well. But let’s be honest: the decision to commit to a one-stop strategy was much easier for him.
Pitting a second time would’ve dropped Russell to sixth with little chance of overtaking the cars ahead. The worst-case scenario with committing to a one-stop strategy for Russell was finishing eighth*. So, the difference between the default strategy and the worst-case scenario in the alternative strategy wasn’t that significant.
Compare that to Hamilton, who was leading the race before the second round of pit stops.
*Well, actually the worst-case scenario was disqualification, but Russell didn’t know that.
Ajaxn
30th July 2024, 14:44
Mercedes had him finishing 5th if he’d two-stopped.
Edvaldo
30th July 2024, 14:53
You don’t see Russell coming with these crazy ideas when he’s on the top 3, have you noticed that?
And mostly, if not always, he does it when Hamilton is doing better than him, like Miami and Zandvoort 22, Monaco’23 and this.
It’s good when you don’t have consequences for it to backfire, but there will be consequences the day he’s contending for the WDC, if it ever happen.
O'Ray
30th July 2024, 15:18
Or Suzuka 23
Red Andy (@red-andy)
30th July 2024, 15:23
Remember that George spent three seasons in a team that was fighting for the low end of the points at best, so he is probably used to thinking about changing his strategy on the fly to help pick up a position or two, and not afraid to try something unorthodox in the hope it pays off. When you’re at the front of the field such strategies are more risk than reward, so it makes sense that you would only gamble on an unusual strategy when you’re behind the cars you want to beat.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
31st July 2024, 6:33
Lewis is just too much of a team player. Which ultimately works best in the long run, but not over one race distance.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st August 2024, 3:51
Yes, russell often tries stuff like this, in one of the wet qualis, either canada 2022 or 2023, in q3 the track was almost ready for slicks, but all others sticked to intermediates; he was the only one who dared try with slicks, only the first couple of corners were too wet and he lost it there, ruining the lap. Had he got past those, he would’ve gained on everyone on intermediates.
Another such gamble was in the only wet austria sprint race we had, he was the first to risk slicks on a drying track and that actually paid off.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st August 2024, 3:48
I mean, it makes sense to take risks like this (forget about the dq, he was the only one on a strategy that was deemed slower than the one all others were on) when you’re in a nothing\little to lose situation.
MadMax (@madmax)
1st August 2024, 9:22
Well, it was a P5-P7 finish to lose.
MadMax (@madmax)
1st August 2024, 9:32
Oh, and ALO, STR and TSU were on the same 1 stop strat. But propably they planned this as an option from the beginning, and also they didnt stop as early as RUS.
Ajaxn
30th July 2024, 14:42
Question now is when did Alonso & co do their first and only pit?
Was it done with forethought, having planned the 1-stop?
To think, if George hadn’t pitted so early (lap 11) he might have stood a better chance of pulling off that one-stop.
AlanD
30th July 2024, 19:04
If he hadn’t pitted so early, he wouldnt have got so much of an undercut on the cars around him, and going longer in worn out tyres would have reduced his lead after the second round of stops. Hamilton and Piastri would have caught him much sooner, whilst their own tyres were much fresher, and he might have spent the final laps battling LeClerc instead. I wonder why he pitted so early though. Was his car set-up chewing through the tyres faster than expected?
amped
30th July 2024, 23:02
What do you mean a better chance? He pulled off the one-stop perfectly. It put him in the lead and allowed his to win the race on the track. It was an error from his team who hadn’t made sure his car was heavy enough to comply that cost him the win.
Tyre wear may have contributed slightly to his car being underweight, but his performance in the closing stages of the race show he wasn’t close to getting to the edge of the usable life in the tyre, the main reason for him being underweight was the team. Mercedes mucked up, had he done a 2 stopper he would have failed on the weight and been disqualified too.
MadMax (@madmax)
1st August 2024, 9:28
Plain wrong. Both Merc started with the same weight, and staying on the planned 2 stop strat would have resulted in finishing with normal tire wear, and most likely not being underweight.
David BR (@david-br)
30th July 2024, 15:31
You can bet if Hamilton had gone for the one stop and told the team as such, Russell would have two-stopped.
As it happened, Hamilton made the right call. Mercedes had less data than the other teams about the tyres after they’d switched the underperforming Friday setup.
Of course the ‘correct’ strategy for Russell was to do a one-stop and race for third, wearing out the tyres less and maybe using the final lap to pick up some marbles (which he couldn’t have done fending off Hamilton and Piastri). Never going to do that though.
FlyingLap (@flyinglapp)
30th July 2024, 16:01
Marbles are always off the racing line, you can’t go picking them at racing speeds, you’ll crash.
David BR (@david-br)
30th July 2024, 16:13
@flyinglapp I know, I’m presuming he’d have a big gap to 4th and have time on the final lap to pick them up. Like I said, it’s just idle thinking, never going to happen.
AlanD
30th July 2024, 18:55
David, I think theere was an eight second gap back to LeClerc which probably isn’t enough for him to go off line marble picking and keep the place. Rememeber that once your tyres are covered in marbles, you’ll have no grip, no accelleration. I don’t think it was an option. Increasingly I think the pit wall dropped the ball and should have been able to work out he’d be significantly underweight. What troubles me about all this is didn’t the original report say Mercedes hadn’t correctly drained the car of fuel. Was something wrong with the Mercedes instruments on this one occasion and they didn’t notice two litres were still sloshing in the car, or did someone deliberately leave just enough fuel in the pipes for the car to appear legal? i am suprised no one seems to be asking this question.
David BR (@david-br)
30th July 2024, 19:18
Your right Alan, leaving the fuel in the car does seem to have skipped attention. I presumed Mercedes accepting the steward decision without contestation kind of put a wrap on it all.
It would have added a twist, Russell trying to collect rubber on his final lap. No idea actually how much collecting they need to do on the post-race lap! Once? Several times?
Bright
30th July 2024, 20:41
George always gets too desperate when Lewis is performing better than him. Instead of just out and out racing and being a speed demon like other pure racers, he resorts to mind games and strange strategies to try and win. He is not good enough to be the lead driver at Mercedes when Lewis leaves for Ferrari. You need a driver who rolls his sleeves and gets on with it. On another issue, George’s driving style and Lewis’s driving style are very different, he is very aggressive whilst Lewis glides. If you have noticed, in some places when Lewis is in 8th gear and cruising along, George is in 7th. That’s the difference which determines who keeps their tyres longer. Engineers looked at Lewis’s tyres and said they were fine and used them to get George to go for a longer stint, but they were fine because of Lewis’s driving style not George’s. When George did his long stint, look what he did, he went under weight.
DaveW (@dmw)
30th July 2024, 21:46
I would not say that Hamilton missed the race winning strategy. Inexact lede. The two stop was faster as proven by the fact Russell was caught and held up Hamilton for at least a couple laps. It was a potential race winning strategy only for Russell if and only if Hamilton stopped again, which was in control of the team. So Hamilton should have been informed that the one stop was on the cards for Russell and the implications, which is that the he would have to chase down and overtake an equal car at the end of a stint. That should have been a weighty factor against stopping against.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
31st July 2024, 6:37
Yep, especially after Russell’s own engineer said the tires would last the whole stint. Mercedes let Russell take position over Lewis, that means Lewis is the #2 on that team. Which means Lewis is doing great this year. Also, Lewis lacks the same straight-line potential as Russell, something I have yet to really hear as to why on the boob tube.
Prays for rain.
Frank Chong
31st July 2024, 6:22
Well, if he didn’t pit and do the same 1 stop which later DQ just like Russel, i wonder what tune he will be singing. Or will he change his “tone” now after found Russel DQ due to 1 stop. Anyway there’s no please for everyone
Don gorgon
31st July 2024, 19:54
just based on good racing alone it was wrong.. Even brundle was surprised he thought mercedes would ask russell to move a side. Hamilton had raced for that lead and had it stolen from him by his own team…
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st August 2024, 4:06
If the strategy works why not try it if you’re russell; he won on the track and some other people are saying it’s not the 1-stop that made the difference in terms of weight, but mercedes who made a miscalculation, and I agree with them, there’s been plenty of 1-stops over the years and disqualifications cause of being underweight have been very rare.
MadMax (@madmax)
1st August 2024, 9:25
Some people say. Most people say, the tire wear made a significant difference, and is most likely the factor which made the car underweight in the end. The one stop would have needed to be considered when preparing the car. The unplanned switch to a 1 stop in the race was the problem.