Explained: Why Mercedes have ditched their upgraded F1 floor for Belgian GP

George Russell has shed light on why Mercedes have reverted back to an older specification of floor for the remainder of the Belgian Grand Prix F1 weekend.

Russell could only secure seventh in qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps, three places behind Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Still, it was an improved level of performance relative to Friday practice for Mercedes.

Mercedes had tried out a new floor - but ditched it for Friday practice.

With the wet weather in play - and a poor showing on Friday - Mercedes made this decision.

Speaking after qualifying, Russell explained the decision further.

“We just wanted to double check,” he said. “We did the Friday on the new floor, going back to the race on Sunday, see where the race falls out. In F1, the fluctuation of pace, circuit to circuit, is massive.

“Yesterday, wasn’t a great day for us and we just want to double check it wasn’t the upgrades. I am pretty confident it isn’t.

“We definitely have not really struggled in the last 12 months, when we’ve brought upgrades they’ve generally worked. It will give us more time to assess the new floor.”

Mercedes were expected to fare well at Spa after they were the fastest team at Silverstone - another circuit with similar track characteristics.

However, Russell conceded Mercedes need to “understand why” they continue to struggle at Spa, citing their lack of performance in 2022 and 2023.

“I mean, it's been three years in a row that we've been very quick in Silverstone,” he added. “Obviously, this season, exceptionally quick, and struggled in Spa. And on paper, you'd say, you know, we're not exactly the same at the circuit, but it has high-speed here, a bit of low-speed same as Silverstone, we need to try and understand why that is.

“You know, there seems to be something inherent in the cars that work at certain circuits. You know, Red Bull are always lightning, as an example.

“This is always probably their strongest circuit in the season, along with Austria. And for us Silverstone, you know, Barcelona, they're the sort of circuits that we tend to go very well at as well. So, yeah, we need to understand that.”