George Russell disqualified after winning Belgian Grand Prix, handing victory to Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton
Published 28/07/2024 at 18:13 GMT
George Russell's elation turned to heartbreak after the FIA announced that he would be disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix, despite crossing the line at Spa first. Team principal Toto Wolff suspected that his driver's one-stop strategy may have contributed to his car being found 1.5kg underweight. Fellow Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton consequently took his second Grand Prix in three races.
Hamilton celebrates historic win at Silverstone
Lewis Hamilton claimed the Belgian Grand Prix in bizarre fashion after team-mate George Russell was disqualified 90 minutes after taking the chequered flag at Spa.
Mercedes were denied a shock all-British one-two when Russell’s car came in at 1.5kg below the minimum weight.
Following Hamilton’s British Grand Prix victory - his first for 56 races - the seven-time world champion heads into the summer break sixth in the drivers' standings.
Russell, meanwhile, posted on social media that he was gutted by the news.
“Heartbreaking…” Russell’s post on X read. “We came in 1.5kg underweight and have been disqualified from the race.
“We left it all on the track today and I take pride in crossing the line first.
“There will be more to come.”
Team principal Toto Wolff told Sky Sports that he believed it could have been Russell’s unusual one-stop strategy that led to the car being underweight.
Wolff said: "I think it was the one-stop… you expect lots of rubber, maybe more, but it's no excuse.”
“I’d like to have two winners today,” he said. “But we had to cover [Charles] Leclerc and [Lando] Norris because we would’ve been undercut, so that was the call. George had nothing to lose. We were P5."
And after the FIA’s announcement, Wolff released a statement apologising to his driver and admitting to the “mistake”.
"We have to take our disqualification on the chin,” said Wolff. “We have clearly made a mistake and need to ensure we learn from it.
"We will go away, evaluate what happened and understand what went wrong. To lose a one-two is frustrating and we can only apologise to George, who drove such a strong race.
"Lewis is of course promoted to P1; he was the fastest guy on the two-stop and is a deserving winner.
"Despite the disqualification, there are many positives we can take from this weekend. We had a car that was the benchmark in today's race across two different strategies. Only a few months ago, that would have been inconceivable.
"We head into the summer break having won three of the past four races. We will look to come back after shutdown rejuvenated and with the aim of maintaining our positive trajectory."
Russell’s Mercedes originally came in at 798kg, exactly on the boundary for the minimum weight requirement, but after draining the fuel it weighed 796.5kg.
Oscar Piastri of McLaren and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc were bumped up to second and third respectively following the decision, while championship leader Max Verstappen was handed fourth.
The FIA’s technical delegate's report read: "The stewards heard from the team representative of Car 63 (George Russell), the FIA technical delegate, the FIA single seater director and the FIA single seater technical director.
"Car 63 was weighed on the FIA inside and outside scales with both scales showing the same result of 796.5 kg. The calibration of both scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor.
"During the hearing the team representative confirmed that the measurement is correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly. The team also acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team.
"The Stewards determine that Article 4.1 of the FIA Formula 1 Technical Regulations has been breached and therefore the standard penalty for such an infringement needs to be applied."
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