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George Russell rejects Lewis Hamilton’s upgrades offer after Austin qualifying crash
Tereza Hořínková
News.gp journalist and a girl with big dreams
After George Russell's crash in qualifying for the United States Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has offered his upgraded-spec Mercedes parts to him.
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Mercedes has brought several upgrades to the US Grand Prix, including changes to the front wing with adjusted flap twist distribution and a re-profiled upper wishbone fairing.
An additional vane element has been added to the floor edge wing, along with a reprofiled inboard floor fence.
For COTA-specific adjustments, the sidepod inlet lower lip has been moved rearwards, and extra cooling exits have been added to the rear suspension.
However, after both cars battled for pole during sprint qualifying on Friday and the upgrades seemed to be working, Saturday brought an early quali exit for Hamilton and a hard crash for Russell, leaving him to start sixth on Sunday, if any component changes exceeding the FIA limits won't be needed.
Russell's collision with the barriers at Turn 19 during the final runs of Q3 brought the session to an early end, helping Lando Norris to secure pole position over Max Verstappen.
However, the collision caused significant damage to the upgrades on his W15, especially on the front-right side but Mercedes doesn’t have any spare parts available.
As Lewis Hamilton suffered a shocking Q1 exit and will start the US Grand Prix from nineteenth place, the seven-time world champion offered to give Russell his upgrades.
“I mean, Lewis has already kindly offered me his parts, but we’re not going to do that,” said Russell quoted by Motorsport Week.
“It’s a real shame. Everyone back at base deserves better, but we’re all pushing the limits here to try and get the car on the front row and fight for some big results.
“[Friday] we had a car, both Lewis and I fighting for pole position.
“[Saturday] we were both almost out in Q1 and then I was six-tenths away from pole at the start of Q3.
“I was on a really strong lap. I was five-tenths up at one point, but then it went away from me in Sector 3 and then obviously I had the crash.
“I was really disappointed because the team have worked so hard to bring these upgrades to the car.
“And I was just trying too hard to find something that, in all honesty, wasn’t there and paid the price.”
