Mercedes offered drivers ‘coin toss’ to assign updated front-wing

George Russell has revealed that Mercedes suggested that a “coin toss” decide which driver would receive the updated front wing that was introduced by the team ahead of last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Unfortunately, Mercedes only had a single example of the new-spec element, which ultimately landed on Russell’s W15 after Lewis Hamilton opted out of the rather unconventional method of attribution.

The lighthearted approach suggests that the performance difference between the new and older front wings was likely to be marginal, making the decision less critical.

But Hamilton, ever the veteran, who had tested the new wing in the simulator, felt that using the aero element would carry an amount of risk as any damage to the updated component in qualifying would signify a pitlane start.

Russell on the other hand was comfortable taking a chance on the new wing.

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“There was one front wing this weekend and it was agreed on Tuesday that we’d do a coin toss and see who got it,” Russell told the Channel 4 F1 broadcast team.

“Lewis said he’d tried it on the sim and was happy for me to use it this weekend, because it doesn’t go without risk.

“If we made a mistake in qualifying and damaged it, obviously that’s one front wing that we won’t ever be able to use again and you’d have to start from the pit lane.

“I was happy to take that risk using it and I thought it was a belated birthday present he gave me, saying I could use it.”

In the end, Russell outqualified Hamilton in Saturday’s shootout, a result the seven-time world champion had predicted.

He was nevertheless satisfied with the pace of Mercedes’ development as the Brackley squad pushes to catch up with its front-running rivals.

“I’m really so happy to see the team’s bringing upgrades and looking forward, you know the last three races we’ve had upgrades,” Hamilton said.

“This weekend, George’s one was a positive as well so I’ll get that next week and hopefully over the next few races we have some more and we can continue to push and try and close that gap.”

Mercedes currently sits fourth in Formula 1’s Constructors’ standings after eight races, 88 points behind third-placed team McLaren.

In the Drivers’ championship, Hamilton lies 8th, 12 points adrift from Russel in P7.

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