George Russell appeared to have claimed his third grand prix victory after leading Lewis Hamilton home in a Mercedes one-two at the Belgian GP; Russell's car found to be 1.5kg under 798kg minimum weight at end of race; Hamilton inherits second win in three races before summer break
Sunday 28 July 2024 19:00, UK
George Russell has been disqualified for having an underweight car after winning the Belgian Grand Prix, handing victory to his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Russell stunned the rest of the field by pulling off an audacious one-stop strategy to seal a surprise Mercedes one-two at Spa, but about 90 minutes after the conclusion of the race, the FIA announced that his car had come in underweight.
The W15 weighed in at 796.5 kilograms, 1.5kg beneath the minimum weight required by the sport's regulations. The car had initially weighed in bang on the 798kg limit, but once the remaining fuel was drained in accordance with the rules, it fell below.
The FIA's Formula 1 technical delegate Jo Bauer referred the matter to the stewards, who then confirmed Russell's disqualification an hour after the infringement had been confirmed.
The decision gives Hamilton a second victory in three races going into F1's summer break, with the seven-time world champion having won the British Grand Prix earlier in July to end a 56-race winless streak.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri was promoted to second, while Ferrari's Charles Leclerc moved up to third to take the final podium place.
World championship leader Max Verstappen and his nearest challenger Lando Norris were promoted to fourth and fifth, respectively.
Russell reacted to his disqualification with an Instagram post, writing: "Heartbreaking… 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."
"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."
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, speaking before stewards had made their decision, said Russell's unplanned one-stop strategy had been the likely cause of the issue.
The fact Russell's tyres were more worn than those who had done two stops meant that by the end of the race they would have had less rubber on them, and consequently weighed less.
"I think it was the one-stop… you expect lots of rubber, maybe more, but it's no excuse," Wolff said, while also admitting the incident would be a "massive blow" for Russell.
Following the FIA's announcement of the disqualification, Wolff released a statement confirming Mercedes would not appeal and apologising to Russell.
"We have to take our disqualification on the chin. We have clearly made a mistake and need to ensure we learn from it," he said.
"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."
Formula 1 returns after the summer break with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on August 23-25, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership - No contract, cancel anytime
