George Russell admits he has concerns that teams might face legality problems with plank wear during this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Russell’s Mercedes team mate, Lewis Hamilton, was disqualified from the results of the United States Grand Prix, along with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, after the FIA scrutineers found that the planks on the underside of both drivers’ cars had worn below the maximum limit.Both cars’ failures to adhere to the regulation was blamed on the bumpy Circuit of the Americas and the sprint format, which locked teams into their set-ups following Friday’s sole practice session. As only four of the 17 cars which finished the race were subjected to plank checks after the grand prix, Hamilton claimed there was a strong probability that more drivers would have been disqualified from the final results had more checks been carried out.
As this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix is also a sprint event, Russell says there is a chance that the scrutineers could discover cars falling foul of the plank wear limit after Sunday’s grand prix in Interlagos.
“It’s going to be really challenging,” Russell admitted.
“And this is a big, big issue with the sprint race weekends because, as we said in Austin, we ended practice, we did our checks and there was no plank wear and we thought we were in the clear. And then with a small change of wind direction, putting in 100 kilos of fuel in the car for the first time, some laps in traffic, some laps not in traffic on a really bumpy circuit, we suddenly found ourselves in an issue we weren’t expecting.
“I’ve got to be honest, on a track like this some teams might find themselves in the same place, So that’s just part of a game in a sprint race.”
Russell won last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix, his maiden grand prix win, after the dominant Red Bull of Max Verstappen struggled for pace over the weekend, later admitting to having been locked into set-up that was not ideal.
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“Red Bull definitely took a step backwards this time last year and it just goes to show, in these sprint races, if you were to make a bad choice, you are locked in and you can’t rectify those mistakes,” Russell said. “So there’s pros and cons to that.”
“I personally don’t like it because this is the pinnacle – Formula 1. These cars are so complex, we’ve got so many brilliant engineers here working to improve the car that to be locked in after a 60 minute session, if there’s a red flag or delays or if it’s wet, you’re going in totally blind-sided.”
Despite not having won a race all season, Russell says he is feeling positive about Mercedes’s prospects at Interlagos.
“I’m motivated. I’m excited for this weekend,” he said. “But past performance never secures future success, so we need to keep an open mind.”
Fernando Alonso suspects the two disqualifications following the last sprint race will lead teams to be more cautious over how they set their cars up this weekend.
“I think the sprint format this year has been quite difficult for everyone to optimise the car,” he said. “There are always margins that you need to take.
“In Baku it was Alpine that had to start from the pit lane because they understood that maybe they were not within the regulations. In Spa both Red Bulls were lifting off in Eau Rouge because they thought that it could be a problem.
“Then in Austin, we have a few cars that they’ve been checked and many other cars that they didn’t check, that they were not legal. I think here it will be a little bit more conservative from everyone and for us will be the same.”
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2023 Brazilian Grand Prix
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- Mercedes’ Brazilian GP set-up was “conservative” after US GP disqualification
Red Andy (@red-andy)
3rd November 2023, 7:19
Run your car higher then, George.
notagrumpyfan
3rd November 2023, 8:48
And/or do like other teams did and make the required changes after the sprint and start from the back.
Ruben
3rd November 2023, 8:04
Combine what you learned from last year and two weeks ago into a suitable solution?
MacLeod (@macleod)
3rd November 2023, 8:09
But the track is different more hilly :) which press the cars deeper into the track i think he is talking about that how difficult it’s to setup you car for that.
SteveP
3rd November 2023, 8:27
Combining previous data is what I’d expect the teams to do.
The other aspect to consider is that, as we, the fans learned two weeks ago (that they “randomly” select which tracks to check plank wear at) there’s a chance that every team on the grid could have totally worn the plank away and still be declared legal by virtue of not being checked.
So, do they combine that too?
Facts&Stats
3rd November 2023, 8:51
As plank wear is directly link to a car bottoming out, and as FIA has installed devices to measure excessive porpoising, I assume it is easy (maybe after a rule clarification) to pick the suspicious cars.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
3rd November 2023, 10:54
Yes, FIA technical director Tim Goss did confirm this, eventually – only those cars that had been spotted bottoming out suspiciously were initially selected for inspection, with a couple more added to check there wasn’t a more widespread issue: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/fia-originally-only-planned-to-check-hamilton-and-leclercs-planks-at-f1-us-gp-/10539969/
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
3rd November 2023, 11:12
They have no own device to do that, but according to FIA’s Tim Gross they use the teams own telemetry and video footage to determine which cars bounces the most and therefore should be checked. In Austin they picked Leclerc and Hamilton and after they failed they picked randomly (or not, as it’s P1 and P3) two other teams.
After those two cars passed they decided two call it a day and handed the other cars back to the team because checking the whole field would have taken them 7-8 hours and delaying the official result that long
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
3rd November 2023, 11:17
was unacceptable for them.
Source is in german unfortunately, but google translator will probably manage.
https://de.motorsport.com/f1/news/fia-erklaert-darum-wurden-in-austin-vier-autos-ueberprueft-23102917/3397699/
Facts&Stats
3rd November 2023, 12:31
Danke!
Andy (@andyfromsandy)
3rd November 2023, 14:33
A process that apparently is supposed to pick cars at random and I believe the tests they are going to conduct also.
As for data MB have a different car that has recently been upgraded again so there is no data to fall back on, IMO.
Hotbottoms (@hotbottoms)
3rd November 2023, 8:59
The rules are the same for everybody, so as long as they check every car, this shouldn’t be a problem. Maybe checking plank wear for every car in every round isn’t a viable option, but considering the circumstances, they should do it in Brazil. If there are embarrassingly many disqualifications because of the throughout checking, so be it.
Ronald (@mosquito)
3rd November 2023, 9:29
I don’t agree they should check all cars every race, the deterrence of the possibility of being caught out should be enough, but for this race you are probably right. Unless they could easily spot the ones in a hairy situation from the “bouncing metrics”.
slowmo (@slowmo)
3rd November 2023, 9:39
As long as they check all the other teams the same amount as at present, they’ve checked Merecedes more than any other cars this year. Lets see how many of those cars that have barely had any checks this year against them do.
Jimmy Cliff
3rd November 2023, 11:41
Oh no another FIA conspiracy against Mercedes – how unfair.
Maybe the FIA had good reason to more frequently check Mercedes, Austin certainly proved the FIA right that Mercedes had ran the car too low.
tielemst
3rd November 2023, 10:27
Hmm…I wonder what car will be randomly chosen to be checked.
TylerS
3rd November 2023, 14:05
Headline: BERT MYLANDER DISQUALIFIED FROM BAZILIAN GP
“Bert Mylander has been disqualified from the Brazilian GP after a post-race inspection found his car not to be in compliance with multiple technical specifications. Stewards say his car was ‘randomly selected’ for inspection, though fans believe he was targeted because he drove suspiciously slowly around the track, leading them to believe he was trying to avoid plank wear….”
melanos
5th November 2023, 19:34
Oh, and there is the open wheels issue
Dex
3rd November 2023, 10:35
Just respect the rules. If you don’t have enough technical knowledge to be on the margin, than play it safe. And don’t blame the FIA, the rules, the stewards or the world for your mistakes. But if this is going to be a new big thing, then they should be checking more cars, if not all the cars (I don’t buy into excuses that this isn’t possible; make it possible).
S
3rd November 2023, 11:11
Even if it were possible (which it isn’t) – it is neither practical nor necessary. Disqualification isn’t a very attractive potential outcome, such that it typically isn’t worth risking.
If only the FIA took the same approach with the sporting regs…
MadMax (@madmax)
3rd November 2023, 15:31
how comes stupid detractors always address drivers and team chefs directly, as if they are reading their hate comments. lol
melanos
5th November 2023, 19:52
Rethorics is clearly not your strong suit (you might check ‘aposthrophe’ in a decent dictionary, and it is not about letter omisions), but gratuitously insulting other people personally is. Seriously that should not be allowed. And I am addressing you.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
3rd November 2023, 12:17
Red Bull takes a step back this time of year. Lol. Sure they do George. And then they just miraculously stomp the competition the following year. RB turn their engines down to make the competition think their catching up and the competition buys it year after year.
osnola
3rd November 2023, 12:54
You have the same impression I had last year. A happy Mercedes team, at last with a winning car. Happy toto solved all the problems and ready to take on RBR next year. Al that to experience a total defeat with the same stupid design flaws.
lynn-m
3rd November 2023, 12:20
I said when it was first announced & I still think it now that parc-ferme coming into effect after just 1 hour of running on a Friday is dumb.
They should be allowed to alter & tweak cars before, during & after every session if they want including on the grid before the start of the formation lap if they wish to change something after the initial lap to the grid.
The whole sport is getting overly restrictive & over regulated all in the hope of trying to catch them out for the benefit of the show. Thats the only reason for these silly parc-ferme rules.
The fact that ‘it’s the same for everyone’ doesn’t make it any better and is frankly simply an excuse from those who want to and agree with the idea of putting the show before the sport. And honestly most of those people aren’t fans of the sport to begin with which is why they are fine with just throwing as many gimmicks at it as possible.
Sport before show!!!!!
grat
3rd November 2023, 14:50
With power unit and transmission limits, and cost caps, and the inability to have a second chassis standing by, I’m not sure there’s a benefit to parc ferme in it’s current form.
DaveW (@dmw)
3rd November 2023, 15:19
Agree. The point of this is to keep teams from building special qualifying cars or fitting special one-session equipment or fancy super light weight lubricants, blanking off cooling, etc. they can’t do that now to any useful extent. Not sure what parc ferme is actually doing now.
Dusty
3rd November 2023, 15:05
I find it interesting that after being DSQed they say the gain from running the car lower was negligible and their pace was legitimate. However next race no one wants to raise the car to be on the safe side.
DaveW (@dmw)
3rd November 2023, 15:26
They car looked safe on Friday. That’s what he is saying. If you have no wear on Friday why would you raise it again? Ferrari said the same thing. If you can’t collect enough data from one session you are just guessing. The only response to this is max out the height? Regs should just mandate a static ride height and require bushings in the suspension to limit max travel then.
Robert H Brown
5th November 2023, 13:18
Why not check every car before it enters the race rather after the race. That way the ride height could be set and those who fail the ride height would then start the race from the back of the grid, or maybe be given a 5 car grid penalty. That would make for a bigger challenge to those on starting grid.