Mercedes has explained that the decision to retire George Russell in the Formula 1 British Grand Prix was “preventative” to avoid more damage to his car’s power unit.
Russell headed a Mercedes 1-2 from pole position in the opening laps, but he slipped behind his team-mate Lewis Hamilton and both McLarens when the rain arrived.
The Briton was striving to catch Max Verstappen’s Red Bull to return to the podium positions six laps into his Intermediate stint when he was told to return to the pits.
Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin has disclosed that the water leak problem which curtailed Russell’s involvement was prevalent at the outset.
Shovlin has revealed the marque took the choice to limit his running to protect the engine and prevent a possible grid drop once it was clear he wouldn’t make the end.
“Unfortunately, we knew that we had an issue relatively early in the race, so we were tracking this from the first stint,” Shovlin said on Mercedes’ British GP debrief video.
“We didn’t know that it was going to be terminal, but it’s all linked to a leak that was in the water system that was causing the pressure to start to drift.
“And ultimately when we stopped the car, it was to protect the power unit.
“So we knew that we were never going to finish the race. What you don’t want to do is finish the race and destroy the power unit, then you’ll be looking at a penalty possibly later in the year.
“So it was preventative, but there was no way that we were going to get to the chequered flag.”
Hamilton capitalised on nailing the crossover back to slicks late in the race to leapfrog Lando Norris’ McLaren to claim the lead and a record ninth win at Silverstone.
Shovlin has predicted that Russell would’ve been guaranteed to at least take fourth had he remained in the race, but thinks a shot at the podium was also achievable.
“With a race like that, with the changing conditions, it’s quite hard to say this is where we would have finished,” he pondered.
“If it had been a dry race start to finish, looking at how George got off the line, how he was able to build a gap, I think he would have had a pretty straightforward afternoon.
“But if you take the point where we actually decided to retire the car, we were on Intermediates, George was in P4, he was closing in on Max, so that was looking good.
“And to get him on the podium, he would have probably had to overtake Max at that point realistically, because we called the stop lap correct with Lewis when we went to dry tyres.
“So I think earlier it might have been a bit too damp. So as I said, minimum of P4, but there would have been a shot at it [a podium] if he could have passed Max on track on the Inter.”
