SPIELBERG, Austria — Mercedes has replaced Lewis Hamilton’s chassis following his accident during Friday qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Hamilton crashed at Turn 8 on his first attempt at a flying lap in Q3, damaging the right-hand side of the car.
After assessing the damage, Mercedes found that a new chassis would be required to allow him to take part in Saturday’s sprint race.
George Russell also crashed his Mercedes in qualifying but the necessary repairs to his car did not extend to a new chassis.
Both Mercedes cars will be fitted with a new gearbox, but will not incur a penalty as they have not exceeded their quota for the year.
“We have swapped Lewis to the spare chassis owing to right-hand side damage from the accident,” a Mercedes spokesperson said ahead of the final practice session. “Both cars have different gearboxes to yesterday, from within their permitted pool.
“Floors and wings have been repaired and/or swapped. Power units have been thoroughly checked – and nothing replaced.”
Speaking in a press conference on Saturday morning, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said the damage was extensive across both cars.
“A lot of damage,” he said. “I think we have two floors, two ‘boxes that we need to check. A rear wing, lots of little bits of pieces.
“In the garage in the early evening it looked like somebody dropped a Lego car on the floor. But the mechanics are doing great work.”
Source: www.espn.com