George Russell has been stripped of his second win of the 2024 F1 season.
After an incredibly dramatic final lap at the Belgian GP at Spa that saw Russell cross the line in first, barely half a second ahead of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, Russell has now had the win taken away from him.
The post-race weight of his car drew the ire of race stewards and compatriot Hamilton will now inherit the win. Russell’s car was 1.5kg below the required FIA weight.
In a statement released after the race, Jo Bauer, the FIA Formula One Technical Delegate confirmed: ‘Car number 63 was weighed and its weight was 798.0kg, which is the minimum weight required by TR Article 41. After this, fuel was drained out of the car and 2.8 litres of fuel were removed.
‘The car was not fully drained according to the draining procedures submitted by the team in their legality documents as TR Article 6.5.2 is fulfilled. The care was weighed again on the FIA inside and outside scales and the weight was 796.5kg. The calibration of the outside and inside scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor.
‘At this is 1.5kg below the minimum weight requested in Tr Article 4.1, which also has to be respected at all times during the competition, I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration.’
Brit George Russell looked to have added to his win earlier this season at the Austrian GP
George Russell started sixth on the grid and held off a late charge from his teammate Lewis Hamilton to secure what he thought would be his second winner’s trophy of the 2024 season
But stewards found this his winning Mercedes was 1.5 kilograms below the required weight
Russell’s Mercedes teammate and compatriot Lewis Hamilton has inherit the Belgian GP win
Russell’s disqualification means his teammate and compatriot Lewis Hamilton will be awarded first, adding to his triumph at Silverstone three weeks ago.
The seven-time world champion, Hamilton, burst into the lead of the race on the third lap of 44 in the Ardennes.
Russell, who started sixth, had other plans though and adopted a bold and cunning one-stop strategy to outfox his rivals and claim just the third victory of his career.
Russell crossed the barely half a second ahead of a late charging Hamilton, with Australian and winner last weekend in Hungary Oscar Piastri less than two seconds back.
Despite starting on pole after Max Verstappen’s grid penalty for a new engine, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc could only manage fourth place – now upgraded to third.
Three-time world champion Verstappen started 11th following that penalty and moved up through traffic to end up in fifth, one place ahead of his closest rival in the drivers’ championship, Lando Norris. With Russell’s disqualification the two championship rivals will be moved up to fourth and fifth, respectively.
Verstappen therefore extended his lead over the British McLaren driver ahead of Formula One’s four-week summer break.
For Mercedes, it looked set to be a rejuvenating race weekend after a difficult start to the 2024 season.
When Russell and Hamilton crossed the line, it was the Silver Arrows’ first one-two finish since the penultimate round of the 2022 season in Brazil. George Russell claimed his maiden F1 win that day at Interlagos and looked to have added to his tally. But with Russell’s win stripped away it won’t be quite as sweet a weekend as Mercedes F1 CEO Toto Wolff had initially thought.
Max Verstappen finished up in fifth (now fourth) after starting in 11th due to a grid penalty
McLaren’s Lando Norris could only manage sixth across the line (now fifth) as he was beaten by his teammate Piastri for the second weekend in a row and lost more ground to Verstappen
For most of the race, it looked as though Hamilton, who started from third on the second row, would win. The Brit stormed past Red Bull’s Sergio Perez on the run up to Eau Rouge on the opening lap before overtaking leader and pole-sitter Leclerc on lap three.
But on lap 26, Hamilton peeled into the pits for his second set of new rubber while Russell asked his team engineers to consider a one-stop strategy.
With just twelve laps remaining, Russell, with his tyres dying off rapidly on high-degradation circuit, was seven seconds clear of Hamilton.
‘Am I on target to beat him?” Hamilton asked. ‘It will be close,’ replied his race engineer Peter Bonnington.
Hamilton was soon in Russell’s rearview mirrors but never got close enough to threaten.
‘I had tyres left, but the team called me in,’ Hamilton said after the race. ‘Unfortunate. But that is what it is.’
A jubilant Russell described the would-be win as an ‘amazing result’ after crossing the line and was lauded as ‘the tyre whisperer’ by team principal Wolff over the radio.
Russell added: ‘We did not predict the win this morning but I kept saying we could do the one-stop and the strategy guys did a great job.’
For fellow Brit Lando Norris, this was also a missed opportunity to eat into Verstappen’s championship lead.
Norris started fourth on the grid, but a week after a poor getaway at the Hungaroring allowed Piastri to take control of the race and claim his maiden win, the Brit was left to rue another poor start.
The 24-year-old held his position ahead of the opening corner, but dipped his rear-left tyre into the gravel. That error cost him dearly on the 220mph drag through Eau Rouge and onto the Kemmel Straight.
Suddenly, Norris was seventh and midway through the second lap Verstappen – who had started seven places behind him – was just one position back in eighth.
McLaren’s strategy will also be back in the spotlight after Verstappen undercut Norris at the opening round of stops.
Verstappen stopped on lap 10 but Norris was not hauled in for his first of two tyre changes until lap 15. When he left the pits, he was six seconds behind the Dutchman and he did not have the pace to get back past his title rival.
