Formula One champions, Mercedes were fined 20,000 euros on Sunday after they fitted the wrong front tyres to George Russell’s leading car at a bungled Sakhir Grand Prix pitstop.
Formula 1 was back at Bahrain for the Sakhir Grand Prix wherein the teams witnessed few unexpected events. This weekend race at the 'outer circuit,' for the first time was a busy one since the F1 champion, Lewis Hamilton was tested positive for COVID-19 which meant that George Russell has a chance for being the next best Mercedes F1 driver. However, a Tyre puncture and penalty forced Russell to lose positions.
“We knew immediately when Valtteri didn’t have his tyres, we knew that Valtteri’s tyres were on George’s car,” said team boss Toto Wolff. Everybody at F1 Mercedes knew after wrong tyre fitment that at this point, luck was not on Russell's side. Unfortunately, Mercedes were fined for wrong tyres, which if not have occurred, would have been victorious for the team.
However, The shorter, Bahrain 'oval' saw the Mercedes-powered cars, McLaren and Renault benefit due to the long straights.
Jack Aitken is Russell's replacement down at Williams, while Pietro Fittipaldi is Romain Grosjean's replacement as the Frenchman continues to recover following his horrific Lap 1 crash in Bahrain last time out.
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Pirelli Formula 1 boss Mario Isola had mentioned ahead of the weekend race: “We get to experience something quite different during both weekends in Bahrain. Perhaps the most interesting challenge will be the Sakhir Grand Prix, as it’s not like any other circuit where we have raced before: even though it uses about half of the standard grand prix track. While there are some simulation data already, we need to wait for real data from free practice to understand the exact effect on wear, degradation, and therefore strategy. On top of that, we’re bringing tyres that are a step softer than last year, which open up more opportunities in terms of strategy.
“During the first weekend drivers will run the new 2021 tyres on Friday with the C3 compound, getting a first proper taste of the rubber they will use next year. Formula 2 is also back for the final round alongside F1, in a pair of races with different tyre nominations that will decide the title,” he added.
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