George Russell originally took his second victory of the 2024 season at the Belgian Grand Prix at beautiful Spa-Francorchamps beating his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton with a single pitstop compared to his rivals who pitted twice.
And yet post-race, the stewards found that George’s car was underweight meaning disqualification. So Lewis takes the victory at the Belgian Grand Prix. Every other driver behind the new race winner moves up and gains valuable championship points.
Last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix winner Oscar Piastri finished in third for McLaren.
In a race made fascinating from start to finish thanks to different tyre strategy efforts, Max Verstappen recovered to fifth position after his engine-change grid penalty.
In doing so he held off distant title rival Lando Norris, while on a critical day for his career Sergio Perez fell from second to finish eighth and well adrift of the frontrunning pack, as one of his would-be replacements at Red Bull – Daniel Ricciardo – came close to scoring the race’s final point for RB.
At the start, Charles Leclerc led away from pole as Hamilton immediately jumped up from starting third to run alongside Perez at the first corner at La Source, then seal second on the downhill run to Eau Rouge, which in turn allowed Leclerc to stay clear in first up the Kemmel straight.
But the Ferrari driver’s lead lasted only two laps of the 44, as Hamilton quickly closed in and then moved to the lead with a DRS overtake to the Les Combes chicane.
Hamilton then gradually dropped Leclerc across the first of three stints in the two-stop affair for most of the frontrunners, while the different tyre tactics brought other drivers behind into focus at various points.
After Norris lost three places on the opening lap by dipping his left-rear into the gravel at the exit of La Source, he soon had Verstappen roaring up behind after the world champion quickly cleared the midfielders he had started behind in P11.
Ahead of this pair was Carlos Sainz, who alone of the leaders started on the hard tyres with the rest on mediums, and the Ferrari driver was able to hang on in front of Norris after the McLaren driver made a mistake on an overtake in the early laps and then they both cycled to the front as Hamilton, Leclerc and co pitted for the first time at the one-quarter phase.
Here Russell, who had gained significantly with a good start from behind Norris on the grid, was in the thick of the action with Piastri – undercutting him at these pitstops, then getting immediately repassed and having to watch the McLaren driver head up the road fight by Perez to run a net third.
In the second stint, Norris eventually pitted and came out behind Verstappen, before quickly erasing a six-second gap to Max and in the process undercutting Sainz, while Hamilton again grew his small lead to Leclerc around getting the lead back once Sainz had come in to take the mediums on lap 20.
At this stage, Perez in fourth was the only other driver on that rubber, with it becoming apparent from Sainz’s strong, long opening stint on the hards that this was the race’s best tyre.
As Hamilton and Leclerc looked settled at the front and with Piastri a few seconds behind, Perez’s pace fell away on the mediums and Russell was able to pressure him and then get by at Les Combes just before the halfway point.
Red Bull then pitted Perez out of Verstappen’s way, with Norris right behind, and this meant the middle stint became shorter than expected as Ferrari pitted Leclerc to cover Perez on lap 25, with Hamilton coming in next time by.
Piastri showed his pace in clean air at the front for a while but then erred in sliding long in his pitbox and slamming into his front jackman – who stayed on his feet impressively – when he came in on lap 30.
By this stage, new leader Russell had already asked Mercedes to think about the one-stop, which it left him on as his pace was holding up even with Hamilton surging on his new hards.
Russell’s lead at this point was around seven seconds and although Hamilton was closing by huge amounts, by the time the seven-time world champion caught up in the closing stages, he could not find a way by and Russell hung on to score a third Formula 1 career race win.
The final lap was made tenser by Piastri’s closing threat from behind – his pace so strong in the final stint he had caught and passed Leclerc (needing two attempts to get by in successive laps at Les Combes, which cost him important time at the end to Hamilton).
In the end, just 1.1 seconds cover the top three, with Leclerc fading to 7.3 seconds off from Piastri and Verstappen and Norris each respectively 0.6 seconds further back in fifth and sixth.
They had to pass Perez once they had made their second stops around the two-thirds mark, then Verstappen, running a second set of the unfavoured mediums given Red Bull’s remaining sets pre-race, defied Norris chasing with DRS to the flag.
Sainz’s out-of-sequence strategy meant he caught and passed Perez for seventh with five laps to go, before Red Bull pitted Perez for a third time to successfully chase the fastest lap bonus point.
Fernando Alonso took ninth for Aston Martin, while the overtaking-filled races for Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo ended with the Alpine ahead in tenth and not too far from Alonso at the finish.
The race’s only retirement was Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, who slowed with a hydraulics issue early on and stopped in the pits shortly afterwards.
So a fantastic team effort from Mercedes to finish 1-2. George Russell winning the Spa race thanks to a single pitstop and yet the pace from the Silver Arrows was solid as pre-race was saying McLaren.
Taking three victories this season is just positive news for the Brackley-based team. Formula 1 now takes a summer break and will return at the Dutch Grand Prix, which is Max Verstappen’s home event. The three-time champion finished this Belgian Grand Prix in fifth following his grid penalty.
UPDATE: Following a post-race stewards check, George Russell’s car was discovered to be underweight. Meaning the Belgian Grand Prix victory will go to Lewis Hamilton as car number 63 was found to be 1.5 kg below the minimum weight. So Russell is disqualified from the race despite an inspired single pitstop strategy.
Belgian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:19:57.566 (+0.526s)
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +1.173s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +8.549s
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull +9.226s
5 Lando Norris McLaren +9.850s
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +19.795s
7 Sergio Perez Red Bull +43.195s
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +49.963s
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine +52.552s
10 Daniel Ricciardo RB +54.926s
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +63.011s
12 Alexander Albon Williams +63.651s
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine +64.365s
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas +66.631s
15 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +70.638s
16 Yuki Tsunoda RB +76.737s
17 Logan Sargeant Williams +86.057s
18 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +88.833s
Zhou Guanyu Haas DNF
George Russell Mercedes 1:19:57.040/DSQ*
*Disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix for being underweight in the post-race checks
George Russell took a stunning victory in the Belgian Grand Prix after a bold strategy call and a thrilling chase from Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton in the latter stages of the race.
Charles Leclerc had made a good start from pole position to initially lead, before being overtaken by Hamilton within two laps. From there the seven-time world champion looked strong at a track where he has been victorious on four prior occasions.
While most of the field opted for a two-stop race, Russell took a gamble by making just one visit to the pits on Lap 10 of 44, meaning that he was attempting to nurse his aging hard tyres as the Grand Prix entered its final stages.
Hamilton had closed right onto the back of his team mate in the last laps and, despite getting agonisingly close, the Briton was unable to find a way past Russell, who crossed the line just half a second ahead to take the third F1 victory of his career.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/russell-takes-incredible-victory-in-belgium-on-aging-tyres-after-thrilling.3FufXdo4r40I7kv5mJLMMR
Lower-than-expected tyre degradation, and a no-lose strategy scenario, triggered the Mercedes call to commit George Russell to his winning one-stop in Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver had been stuck in the pack in the early stages of the race, as the frontrunners circulated together in DRS trains.
But as his opposition covered each other from undercuts and he shuffled to the front, Russell and Mercedes made the decision to change from their anticipated two-stopper.
The scenario had opened up because tyre degradation around the Spa circuit, which had been expected to be quite high due to the new track surface areas, came in much lower than anticipated.
That meant that, while a one-stop had appeared to be out of touch before the race, it was suddenly possible to pull off.
And the call became a reality when Mercedes’ strategy data suggested that if Russell stopped for a second time he would come home in fifth – whereas the worst-case scenario if he kept going was to finish in the exact same position.
That meant it was worth trying to make the one-stop work – which Russell pulled off brilliantly to secure his second win of the season.
Speaking after his victory, Russell said: “Amazing, amazing result. We definitely didn’t predict this win this morning in our strategy meeting, but the car was feeling really awesome.
“We made a lot of changes from Friday night, and the tyres just felt great. And I just kept saying, you know, I think we can do the one-stop. I think we can do the one-stop. The strategy did a really great job.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/the-factors-enabling-russells-shock-winning-strategy/10639879/
Lando Norris is targeting a 2024 Formula 1 summer break “reset” after “stupid” early errors prevented him from finishing higher than sixth in the Belgian Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver had started fourth and was expected to challenge for victory in the race eventually won by Mercedes’ George Russell in a 1-2 for the Silver Arrows team.
Norris, however, lost three places on the opening lap as he ran partially into the gravel on the first corner’s exit and then shortly afterwards botched a pass on Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Being trapped behind the Ferrari meant Norris got undercut by Max Verstappen – recovering from an engine-change penalty – at the first stops, and from there the Briton had to chase the Red Bull to the finish – ending up just 0.6s down as ahead Verstappen came up short of beating Ferrari’s polesitter, Charles Leclerc.
When asked how much he needed to rest over the summer break after McLaren’s up-and-down results over the frantic run of races in the last few weeks, Norris replied: “I mean, we all needed it, but I think I just needed to reset.
“I’ve given away a lot of points over the last three, four races just because of stupid stuff – mistakes and bad starts, Turn 1 now. I don’t know why. It’s just silly things. It’s not even difficult stuff.
“It’s just… Turn 1, trying to stay out of trouble, trying to make sure there’s a gap and not get hit, and then I put myself off the track. Just some stupid things. The pace is good, the team are doing an amazing job so I’m happy.
“In a way I feel like I just don’t want to take a break – I just want to continue because we’re in good form. Even today I feel like the pace was very strong.
“The last two, three races I’ve just not clicked as much as I needed to and given up a lot of points, so hopefully I can come back strong.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/norris-rues-silly-and-stupid-mistakes-to-lose-out-to-verstappen-in-belgian-gp/10639901/
Charles Leclerc feels Ferrari cannot be satisfied with his best result since his 2024 Monaco win, as his fourth in Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix came adrift of the race-winning Mercedes cars.
Ferrari started the season as Red Bull’s closest challenger but has since slipped behind McLaren and Mercedes after its Barcelona upgrades backfired.
The Italian team had worked hard to improve its performance in high-speed corners such as those around Spa, with Leclerc then stunning the field by finishing second in wet qualifying in Belgium and so inheriting pole for Sunday’s race given Max Verstappen’s grid penalty.
He led the opening laps, but then slipped behind Lewis Hamilton and eventually off the podium as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri fought by from behind in the final stint and George Russell’s one-stop gamble paid off with a surprise win for the Briton.
Leclerc told reporters afterwards that “it’s very simple what happened – we were just not fast enough”.
“I felt like we were the fourth fastest car today,” he added. “McLaren and Red Bull was expected. Mercedes was faster than expected.
“On a normal race, dry track, it’s very difficult to keep them behind on a track like this. We did a good job to keep Max and Lando [Norris, in fifth and sixth adrift of Leclerc] behind at the end, but fourth was the best we hoped for today.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/leclerc-ferraris-spa-fourth-result-worse-than-expected-because-mercedes-quicker/10639919/
Belgian Grand Prix winner George Russell faces disqualification as his Mercedes Formula 1 car was found to be underweight after having its fuel drained in post-race checks.
The Briton clinched a third F1 victory after switching strategies to a one-stopper, and held off a rapidly-chasing Lewis Hamilton for the lead until the end.
However, post-race checks by the FIA have shown that the car still had fuel in it when drained to the 798kg weight limit and, after the rest was taken out of the car, the weight dropped to 796.5 kg.
Bad news when this becomes official following a strong drive and victory. Lewis Hamilton will therefore inherit the Spa victory following his teammate’s disqualification.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/belgium-gp-winner-russell-faces-disqualification-as-car-found-underweight/10639949/
George Russell has been disqualified from the result of the Belgian Grand Prix after his Mercedes was found to be underweight following the race, meaning that team mate Lewis Hamilton has been promoted to winner.
Russell had taken victory in the event following a one-stop strategy, which saw him nurse his hard tyres to the chequered flag and just hold off Hamilton by half a second.
However, a Technical Delegate’s Report released after the race stated that, while the car had initially been found to be compliant with the minimum weight of 798kg, 2.8 litres of fuel were then removed.
After being referred to the stewards, it was confirmed that Russell had been disqualified from the race. As such, Hamilton is promoted to P1, while Oscar Piastri now takes P2 and Charles Leclerc moves up to P3.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/breaking-russell-disqualified-from-belgian-grand-prix-for-underweight-car-as.2NIuo4cHgOl1LgplIkGG5D