George Russell disqualified from Belgian Grand Prix, leaving Lewis Hamilton as winner

George Russell has been disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix due to his car being underweight, leaving Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton as winner of the final Formula 1 world championship race before the summer break on Sunday.

According to the stewards’ document, Mercedes “also admitted that there were no mitigating circumstances and that what happened was a genuine error on the part of the team.”

This is the first exclusion on the grid since the 2023 United States Grand Prix, when Charles Leclerc and Hamilton were disqualified because an area of ​​the skid plates on both cars was too thin.

In a statement, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the team had to endure the exclusion “painfully”.

“We made a clear mistake and we need to make sure we learn from it. We will go away to assess what happened and understand what happened. Losing a first and second place is disappointing and we can only apologise to George who drove such a strong race. Of course Lewis was promoted to first; he was the fastest man in both stops and is a deserved winner.

“Despite the exclusion, 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. Just a few months ago, that would have been unthinkable. We head into the summer break having won three of the last four races. We will look to return after lockdown refreshed and aim to maintain our positive trajectory.”

Dive into the details

When Russell’s car was initially weighed, it was at the minimum weight (798kg, or 1,759.29lbs), FIA Formula 1 technical delegate Joe Power said in his report after the Belgian Grand Prix. But that was before the car was de-fuelled. Regulation 4.1 of the technical regulations states in part: “The mass of the car, unfuelled, shall not be less than 798kg, at all times during competition.”

Competitors are required to ensure that at least one litre of fuel can be taken from the car as a sample, in accordance with Regulation 6.5.2. The FIA ​​drained 2.8 litres of fuel from its car to meet this requirement, but according to Bauer’s report, “the car was not completely drained in accordance with the draining procedure provided by the team in its legal documents as Regulation 6.5.2 of the Racing Regulations was met.”

“Russell’s car was weighed again on the FIA ​​internal and external scales and the weight was 796.5 kg,” or 1,755.98 pounds. In the end, his car was found to be 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) under the weight limit of Article 4.1 (798 kg), which is not a small amount. “The calibration of the external and internal scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor,” Bauer wrote.

Wolff held his usual post-race media briefing shortly after Power reported the situation to the stewards, and Wolff said he would not comment on the matter at the time. He was asked if there was any damage to the car that might affect the weight.

“No, I think it was a one-stop situation… you would expect to lose rubber, maybe more, but that’s no excuse,” he said. “If the stewards consider it a breach of the regulations, that’s what happened, and we have to learn from that, and as a team, because there are more positives, for George, but it’s a big blow for a driver when his childhood dream was to win these races, and then he’s told he’s been pulled, but he’s going to win many more races.”

Russell’s final stint was extremely long, taking more than 30 laps on hard tyres, while others, such as Hamilton, ran a two-stop race. Additionally, there was no cool-down lap after the Belgian Grand Prix due to the length of the track, which is when drivers pick up rubber to help recoup any lost weight.

But this is just one of many possibilities that may have contributed to the car’s lower weight.

— Luke Smith contributed to this story.

Required reading

(Photo: Rudy Carisifoli/Getty Images)