Yahoo Autos Lewis Hamilton Gets Win In F1 Belgian Grand Prix After George Russell Is Disqualified
George Russell claimed victory on the road at the Belgian Grand Prix but post-race checks found his car to be underweight, with the consequent exclusion handing the win to Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes did not expect the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps to suit the W15, even accounting for recent progress, and that predicament was seemingly confirmed after Friday practice. A raft of updates were hard to figure out and, given Saturday was wet, Mercedes opted to remove the new package for the remainder of the weekend and stick with a known quantity.
Hamilton and Russell started third and sixth respectively but both performed exceptionally in the race. Hamilton overhauled Sergio Perez on the opening lap before swiftly snatching the lead from pole man Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton ran the conventional and expected two-stop strategy, responding to then nearest opponent Leclerc, while Russell—who moved up to fifth at the start—inherited the lead when his rivals all made their second stops. Russell and Mercedes belied the pre-race strategic prediction and instead gambled on staying out, nursing the Hard tires for a 34-lap stint, in spite of the warmest track temperatures of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.
Hamilton reeled in Russell at a rate of almost a second per lap and was on the rear of the sister W15 during the final five laps, but could not find a way past his teammate. The lengthy corner-heavy middle sector, in which it is hard for drivers to closely follow a rival, played to Russell’s advantage, keeping Hamilton at arm’s length to deny the seven-time world champion a run along the Kemmel Straight.
Russell held on by half a second to take his second victory of the season, leading home a surprise Mercedes 1-2, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri surging towards the Silver Arrows in the final stint but just falling short of being able to attack.
But unfortunately for Russell, shortly after the culmination of the joyous celebrations, a document from the technical delegate landed revealing that post-race checks had found his car to be only 796.5 kg, rather than the required 798 kg, a deficit of 1.5 kg (3.3 pounds).
A Mercedes team representative confirmed that the measurement was correct and acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances, and that the shortfall was a genuine error by the team.
The outcome was a slam dunk exclusion, removing Russell from the results, and instead elevating Hamilton to the 105th victory of his career, and second of the season.
It was an unedifying postscript to a strategically enthralling grand prix on a sun-kissed Sunday in the Ardennes Forest, but rules are rules, and Russell fell on the wrong side of the law.
“We have to take our disqualification on the chin,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said. “We have clearly made a mistake and need to ensure we learn from it. To lose a 1-2 is frustrating and we can only apologize 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.”
Wolff was nonetheless buoyed by Mercedes’ performance in the wake of its third victory in four Grands Prix.
“Despite the disqualification there are many positives we can take from the weekend. We had a car that was the benchmark in today’s race across two different strategies,” Wolff said. “Only a few months ago that would have been inconceivable.”
F1 Belgian Grand Prix
Results
*George Russell, Mercedes, 44 laps, 1:19.57.040
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +0.526 second
Oscar Piastri, McLaren, +1.173
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +8.549
Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +9.226
Lando Norris, McLaren, +9.850
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +19.795
Sergio Perez, Red Bull, +43.195
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, +49.963
Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +52.552
Daniel Ricciardo, RB, +54.926
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +1:03.011
Alexander Albon, Williams, +1:03.651
Pierre Gasly, Alpine, +1:04.365
Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +1:06.631
Valtteri Bottas, Kick Sauber, +1:10.638
Yuki Tsunoda, RB, +1:16.737
Logan Sargeant, Williams, +1:26.057
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas, +1:28.833
Zhou Guanyu, Kick Sauber, +39 laps
* - Disqualified after post-race inspection.
