George Russell will start the United States Grand Prix from the pit lane due to the changes made by his Mercedes mechanics off the back of his qualifying shunt on Saturday.
The Brit qualified in P6 after navigating what was a miserable Saturday for the Silver Arrows. Earlier in the day he had plummeted from second on the grid to fifth at the chequered flag in the sprint race.
However, the real damage was done when he collided with the wall in the final sector on his second and last Q3 run, bringing out the double-waved yellows and ending qualifying for all 10 drivers.
To repair Russell’s car, the Mercedes mechanics were forced to breach Parc Ferme, working on his W15 machine into the night to get it ready for race day. This has come with a major cost with the 26-year-old now set to start the race from the pit lane.
This pain summed up a miserable Saturday for the Silver Arrows. Team-mate Lewis Hamilton fared even worse, dropping out in Q1 after a mistake in the middle sector ended his hopes of significantly improving his lap time.
Russell will now be forced to race without Mercedes’ upgrades too. “Right now, the concern is about the bits,” he explained after the crash.
“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.”
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