Russel Disqualfied for being .5 kg underweight???
According to Merc's Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin,
"...the cars started the race the same weight. Lewis and George were both weighed after qualifying, the cars were within 500 grams. George’s was the only one that had the problem and it’s because things like the tyre wear was much higher. It looks like we lost more material on the plank...”
3.3 lbs. You'd think a gang or master-racers would be immune to such a YUGE mistake but this is the same crew that got fined €25,000 at Singapore 2022* for failing to list Hambone's facial jewelry on his scrutineering form.
I would bet they knew as the end of this weekend's race neared that they had lost control of the numbers. Instead of increasing their safety margin by boxing Russell late for new rubber -- which would have have cost them a podium -- they rolled the dice and got him disqualified instead.
I also think rolling the plank into this is a red herring. Wear of >1.0mm at any of the witness holes will get you DQ'd, and even at max density (1.45), that's just not a significant portion of 1.5 kg. I can't see where the plank played a significant role in this when they didn't also get popped for excessive plank wear.
* Initially Hambone was fined as well but he got off because he had "medical exemption" to keep all his facial beautification hardware installed.
Instead of telling him, "Take that shit out of your face when you're driving OUR CAR," Merc created a process whereby some flunkie inquires of Hambone before each event which jewelry he intends to keep installed.