BELGIAN GP – Lewis Hamilton declared winner as George Russell disqualified after car being under weight
Lewis Hamilton was declared the winner of the Belgian Grand Prix after teammate George Russell was disqualified from the race after his Mercedes was found to be underweight following the race. Russell had fended off an attack by the seven-time champion in the closing stages despite being on older tyres during the final stint after he ran a one-stop compared to the majority of the drivers running a two-stop strategy.
Mercedes have won three of the four races in July, despite struggling for pace during practice and playing the best strategy to retain position ahead of the McLaren of Oscar Piastri. A one-stop looked unlikely, but Russell made it work as he stopped later than his main rivals, but the bold strategy covered off his teammate’s two stops. Russell was the first driver other than Max Verstappen to win multiple races this season, thanks to his ability to make the tyres work, but that’s been handed to Hamilton.
The FIA’s sporting regulations state that, in Article 35.3: “The relevant car may be disqualified should its weight be less than that specified in Article 4.1 of the Technical Regulations when weighed in accordance with Articles 35.1 or 35.2, save where the deficiency in weight results from the accidental loss of a component of the car.
Prior to the announcement of the stewards’ verdict had been confirmed, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff suggested that the team would accept the outcome, though acknowledged that it would be especially tough for Russell to take.. Mercedes now has multiple wins with three wins from four races for the first time since 2020, reviving a season which had been threatening to prove a huge disappointment.
Hamilton had led most of the middle part of the race, but his teammates call for a one stop gave him track position with sixteen laps to go when Hamilton made that second stop. While Hamilton was faster in the closing eleven laps it wasn’t enough to overturn the six-second lead by enough though he did half the gap in four laps. Going onto the last lap Hamilton had closed the majority of that gap but then locked up meaning he couldn’t then challenge.
Having gone nineteen months without a win in F1, Mercedes have now won three of the last four races to revive a season which had been threatening to prove a huge disappointment. Red Bull have failed to win in July the first month since 2020 they have failed to win a race.
Piastri also backed up his maiden win last weekend in Budapest with a strong third six and a half tenths behind Hamilton once again showing that McLaren has strong pace once again as the Australian was there to take advantage should Mercedes run into drama he was only six and a half tenths behind.
The McLaren driver also looked to lose the opportunity to challenge for victory because of a slow second stop which dropped him behind Charles Leclerc had made a good start from pole but was soon under pressure from the Mercedes and McLaren.
Russell’s disqualification prompts Piastri to second, Leclerc to third, Max Verstappen to fourth. As well as moving everyone else up one place
Hamilton, who wins his second grand prix of the season, “We definitely didn’t [expect this]. Firstly, congratulations to George and the team. We had such a disaster on Friday; the car was really nowhere. So we made some changes – hard to see what it was going to feel like because of the weather yesterday – but the car was fantastic”
Piastri, who finished third: “Very happy with the result. We managed the race very well. That’s the second time of the year we’ve tried to run over the front jack so I’ll try not to do that again. I don’t think we could have done too much more.”
Leclerc was fourth the Ferrari driver was in contention as well for victory, following the final round of stops he was caught by Piastri. Piastri had rejoined behind Leclerc and despite a slow stop where he lost time closed the gap quickly to sweep around the outside on the entry to Les Combe before fending him off on exit following a three lap battle.
Verstappen was fifth on track, the Dutchman making a lighting start following a five-place grid penalty for exceeding parts on his power unit to join the leading group within the first ten laps as they approached the first round of stops. Verstappen finishing the race six tenths ahead of his main championship rival Lando Norris and his former teammate Carlos Sainz eighth.
Verstappen still goes into the summer break leading the championship from Norris by seventy-eight points with Leclerc twenty-three further behind. Red Bull leads the constructors by forty-three points with Ferrari twenty-one behind.
Sergio Perez went into this race with stories about his future in the headlines, rumours about him being potentially dropped over the summer just two months after the Mexican signed a new two-year contract. But dropping from second to eighth and nearly twenty-four seconds behind Verstappen will have not helped his case to stay with Red Bull.
Fernando Alonso was ninth for Aston Martin, the two-time champion six seconds behind Perez, with his former alpine teammate Esteban Ocon two and a half seconds behind to complete the top ten. Daniel Ricciardo, another Red Bull driver in the sister RB under pressure, missed out on the points by just over two seconds after being overtaken in the closing stages by Ocon.
Lance Stroll was twelfth six-tenths ahead of the Williams of Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen. Valtteri Bottas was sixteenth six seconds ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, Logan Sargeant and Nico Hulkenberg. Guanyu Zhou was the only retirement because of a hydraulic issue with his Sauber.
Related
- Belgian GP – Qualifying Result
- BELGIAN GP – Max Verstappen fastest in qualifying, with Charles Leclerc beating Sergio Perez by a hundredth to take pole
- BELGIAN GP – Max Verstappen fastest by a second and a half in wash-out third practice
- BELGIAN GP – Lando Norris leads a McLaren one-two going two-tenths faster than Oscar Piastri in second practice
- BELGIAN GP – Max Verstappen fastest by half a second in FP1 ahead of Oscar Piastri