George Russell has been disqualified from the results of the Belgian Grand Prix because his car was underweight, handing teammate Lewis Hamilton victory.
Russell originally won the race on an audacious one-stop strategy, beating Hamilton in a 1-2 finish, with Oscar Piastri third. However, the FIA found Russell’s car to be 1.5 kg underweight when it was weighed after the race, and Mercedes acknowledged it had no mitigating factor that could explain the discrepancy.
“After the race, car No. 63 was weighed and its weight was 798.0 kg, which is the minimum weight required by Technical Regulations Article 4.1,” a report from the FIA’s technical delegate read. “After this, fuel was drained out of the car and 2.8 liters of fuel were removed.
“The car was not fully drained according to the draining procedure submitted by the team in their legality documents as TR Article 6.5.2 is fulfilled. The car was weighed again on the FIA inside and outside scales and the weight was 796.5 kg. The calibration of the outside and inside scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor.”
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After a brief hearing with the stewards, the penalty was confirmed just over two hours after the end of the race.
“During the hearing the team representative confirmed that the measurement is correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly,” the stewards’ decision read. “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.”
Russell’s one-stop strategy saw him complete 34 laps on his final set of tires and, prior to the disqualification being confirmed, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted it could have led to more rubber being used that reduced the weight of the car.
“I think it’s a one-stop that…you expect loss of rubber, maybe more, but it’s no excuse,” Wolff said. “If the stewards deem it to be a breach of regulations, then it is what it is, and we have to learn from that. As a team, given there are more positives to take for George, that’s a massive blow for a driver when his childhood dream is to win these races, then to be told it’s taken away, but he’s going to win many more.”
The disqualification moves all drivers up one place in the classification, with Hamilton now the winner ahead of Piastri, with Charles Leclerc promoted to third place and a podium position.
