Hamilton Willing To Sacrifice For Russell As He Offers To Swap His Upgrades

Sunday, 20 October 2024 at 16:00

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Lewis Hamilton offered George Russell the upgrades on his car after the 26-year-old destroyed his in a qualifying crash.

Mercedes F1 driver George Russell found himself in a problematic situation after he crashed his car during the final run in Q3 of the qualifying session for the 2024 United States Grand Prix.

Mercedes was one of eight teams that borugt significant upgrade packages to the circuit in Austin. However, the German team did not bring any spare parts.

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Usually, this means that the drivers cannot afford to crash because having to change these parts for old spec would be a breach of Parc Ferme rules. If that were the case, Russell would have no other choice but to start from the pit lane despite qualifying in P6. He said as per Motorsport.com:

"Right now, the concern is about the bits. We will have to revert on the upgrades."

"Lewis has kindly offered his ones, but we're not going to swap. So I don't know what's going to be happening now, but that's the biggest concern."

Luckily for the German team, the rules of the sprint weekends are slightly different. Whereas during regular Grand Prix weekends, drivers wouldn't be allowed to change for old spec, sprint weekends enable such changes to be made under special circumstances.

If an F1 team can demonstrate that there is a shortage of parts, they are allowed to revert to the old specification of the car, provided that it has been previously used in a qualifying session or a race.

Ultimately, it looks like the seven-time World Champion will be able to keep his upgrade package. Hamilton wanted to start the Grand Prix from the pit lane either way, as he wanted to change his setup after significant struggles in the qualifying session.

Russell explained how he crashed his car as he admitted confusion as to how Mercedes seemed to have lost pace between Friday and Saturday:

"It was a great lap until Turn 12 when I was four-and-a-half tenths up. I lost a bit at Turn 12, similar to Lewis yesterday, then lost loads of lap time. Still probably a tenth or so quicker than my previous lap."

"I went into the penultimate corner turned in, then the thing went on me, caught me by surprise. Maybe I was over-pushing."

"Pretty disappointed with the damage caused to the car and the work that will go on tonight and a little confused that both Lewis and I were in the fight for pole yesterday and today we were nowhere."