Mercedes change Hamilton's chassis after major crash damage

Lewis Hamilton will use a new chassis for the remainder of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend after his heavy crash in qualifying. Hamilton lost control of his W13 through the Red Bull Ring's high-speed Turn 7 during the Q3 phase, inflicting significant damage on the car – particularly the front and right-hand side. After assessing the situation, Mercedes have been carrying out a penalty-free chassis change, amongst other repairs. Hamilton had qualified 10th, with teammate George Russell fifth, but both will gain a position after a penalty for Red Bull's Sergio Perez .

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“Everyone is doing such a good job” 🙏 pic.twitter.com/ttSoLKZPoD — Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 9, 2022

Russell joins Hamilton in the barriers

Hamilton brought out the red flags with his crash and, shortly after the session resumed, Russell went off at Turn 10, causing rear-end damage. It remains to be seen whether Hamilton and Russell will also take on new gearboxes, but team boss Toto Wolff admitted that the damage across his two cars was wide-ranging. "A lot of damage," Wolff bluntly summed up when speaking to media including RacingNews365.com . "I think we have two floors, two boxes that we need to check, a rear wing... lots of little bits and pieces. "Yesterday in the garage in the early evening it looked like somebody dropped a Lego car on the floor, and the mechanics are doing great work."