F1 News

Russell warns: disqualifications also possible in Brazil GP

Russell warns: 'disqualifications also possible in Brazil GP'

3 November 2023 at 09:06

George Russell fears that the sprint weekend in Brazil could lead to some teams being disqualified again at the Grand Prix this year after it happened at the Circuit of the Americas in the United States.

Russell warns of more disqualifications

After the Formula 1 race in Austin, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified because the plank under the floor of their cars had not passed inspection. The part was found to be more worn than allowed, and this was attributed by the teams to their short preparation time due to the single practice on Friday.

Russell wasn't inspected. The Mercedes driver would not be surprised if the same problem occurs in Sao Paulo. "It’s going to be really challenging and this is going to be a big issue with the Sprint race weekend," warned Russell.

"As we said in Austin, we ended practice, we did our checks, there was no wear, so we thought we’re in the clear and then, a small change of wind direction, putting 100 kilos of fuel in the car for the first time, some laps in traffic, some laps not in traffic in a really bumpy circuit, we suddenly found ourselves with an issue we weren’t expecting," explained Russell. He fears that this same problem may occur more often on sprint weekends because of the single free practice session available to teams.