Mercedes will investigate the different rear wings used by Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in Friday’s Belgian Grand Prix qualifying

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has revealed that there will be an investigation into the rear wings used by Lewis Hamilton and George Russell during the Belgian Grand Prix qualifying. 

Both British drivers used different rear wings during qualifying, with Hamilton deciding on a low-downforce specification wing.

While Russell opted for a higher-downforce wing, and both are now locked into those requirements. 

After the qualification the Mercedes Team Principal spoke to Sky Sports F1 and revealed his team will look into how Hamilton and Russells cars now differ ahead of the Grand Prix. 

‘They ran very different rear wing configurations, and you can see that Lewis is just able to extract more performance from it,’ Wolff said. 

Toto Wolff says there will be an investigation into the rear wings used by his Mercedes drivers 

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell has different rear wings in Belgian grans prix qualifying 

Hamilton’s car had a low-downforce specification wing, with Russells a higher-downforce 

‘(George) has a bit of a barn door on the back, and that can be advantageous for tyre performance on Sunday.’ 

‘But it didn’t help, so we need to assess why it didn’t. P3 (on the grid) is good, and you can see that is is pretty bunched up.

‘We couldn’t properly assess if our parts are working because of the tricky conditions, so let’s hope for a dry Saturday and Sunday.’

It was a qualifying full of incident before the drivers even got on the grid, as Max Verstappen was given a five-place grid penalty after becoming the first driver this season to exceed their gearbox allowance. 

Verstappen finished fastest in qualifying but will start sixth on the grid after gearbox penalty 

The reigning champ still finished fastest during qualifying, but will start sixth on the grid with Charles Leclerc – who finished second – leading the way. 

Verstappen’s penalty means that Hamilton will move up from fourth to third ahead of the race on Sunday, with Russell in eighth as he finished 0.8 seconds behind his Mercedes teammate. 

The bunched-up field saw less than a second separating Leclerc in second, to Lance Stroll in tenth for Sunday’s race at Spa-Francorchamps.