George Russell, who opted for a one-stop strategy that seemed impossible on paper, compared to two-stops by his rivals, beat teammate Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. However, he was later disqualified for a technical infringement.
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Formula 1 2024 Belgian Grand Prix results before disqualification
What happened at the 2024 F1 Belgian GP?
Polesitter Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) emerged from the first corner in the lead ahead of Hamilton and Sergio Perez (Red Bull). Russell battled with Piastri for fourth place at Les Combes but had to give up the position. Lando Norris got off to a bad start and dropped to seventh.
Max Verstappen, who had won the last three races here, started 11th due to his 10-place grid penalty for an engine change, and passed Alex Albon’s Williams at the final chicane to move up to ninth at the end of the first lap.
Norris overtook Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari (which was on hard tyres, unlike most on mediums) at Les Combes to move into sixth on the second lap, but had to give the position back as he went off the track, allowing Verstappen to snap at his heels.
Hamilton stayed in the DRS zone with Leclerc, and passed him to take the lead on lap 3.
Perez lost DRS on Leclerc, allowing Piastri to fight for third. But higher than expected temperatures meant the drivers focused more on tyre management than on-track battles. Russell, fifth, went wide at the Brussels hairpin on lap eight but managed to keep Sainz behind him.
Hamilton pulled 2s ahead of Leclerc on lap 10 and said over the radio that his tyres were “fine”.
Russell and Verstappen were the first of the leaders to pit on lap 11 for the medium. Hamilton, Perez and Piastri all stopped on the following lap.
Russell slipped past Piastri, but the Australian was able to get past with the help of DRS at Les Combes. Perez slotted in behind Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, allowing Piastri to get back on his heels.
Leclerc pitted on lap 13, and rejoined ahead of the duel between Perez and Piastri, with the Australian gaining the position on the Mexican at Les Combes.
Sainz, with his hard tyres, extended his stop as did Norris, as McLaren tried a overcut to compensate for the track position he lost in the first lap and asked him to take out “100% of the pace.”
Norris stopped on lap 16 and rejoined eighth behind Verstappen. Leader Sainz made a mistake and went into the gravel at Stavelot, which cost him time and was key to his alternative strategy.
Verstappen was given the go-ahead from the pit wall to attack Russell, who was clinging to Perez’s DRS, but was unable to overtake and reverted to pit mode, with Norris slotting in behind him.
Sainz pitted on lap 21 and rejoined in eighth position. Hamilton inherited a 1.7s lead over Leclerc and Piastri. Moments later, Russell overtook Perez for fourth.
Verstappen spent half a lap stuck behind Perez, who was called into the pits at that point, allowing Norris to get within a second of the Dutchman. But just as he got into his slipstream, the McLaren Briton went off at the final chicane on lap 24 and crashed out of the DRS zone.
Leclerc was 2s behind Hamilton when he made his second stop on lap 26 to attempt an undercut, but a slow tyre change did not help his attempt. Hamilton covered up on the following lap, and rejoined 2.5s ahead of Leclerc, while Russell, who was gaining positions as the rest stopped, opted not to make any further pit stops.
Verstappen stopped again on lap 29, as did Sainz, who only completed eight laps on his medium tyres before returning for fresh hards. Norris pitted a lap later.
Piastri set the fastest lap just before his second stop on lap 31, but a bad pitstop of 4.4s harmed him.
Perez let Verstappen pass with 14 laps to go and Norris passed Perez with DRS a lap later.
With 12 laps to go, Russell led a Mercedes one-two by 7s over a closing Hamilton, who was in turn 2s ahead of Leclerc and Piastri.
Verstappen’s fifth place was under threat from Norris, who was told he could attack. Perez and Sainz completed the top eight.
Piastri attacked Leclerc at Les Combes on lap 35 and, although he failed to find a way past on his first attempt, he did overtake him on the outside on the second lap.
Russell was 3.7s ahead of Hamilton at the time, while Piastri was 5s behind Lewis. Sainz passed Perez on the outside to take seventh with six laps to go.
Hamilton caught Russell with four laps remaining, with Piastri slotting in behind the Mercedes duo later on. Behind them, Verstappen moved into Leclerc’s DRS zone, with Norris in tow.
Hamilton made several attempts to overtake Russell on the Kemmel Straight, but simply didn’t have enough speed to.
The two Mercedes cars started the final lap separated by 0.6s, with Piastri a second behind. Hamilton locked up slightly at La Source and was unable to overtake his teammate, giving Russell all the breathing room he needed to win after 34 laps on the hards.
Russell eventually beat Hamilton by half a second, ahead of Piastri, Leclerc, Verstappen, Norris, Sainz and Perez. They all gained a position when Russell was disqualified, and Hamilton thus took his 105th F1 win.
Fastest laps of the 2024 F1 Belgian Grand Prix
Class No. Driver Car / Engine Time Delay Lap 1 11 Sergio Perez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1’44.701 240.822 2 4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1’45.563 0.862 238.856 OLascar McLaren/Mercedes 14 5,840 1,139 238,231 4 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1’46.128 1.427 237.584 5 55 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1’46.364 1.663 237.057 6 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’46.653 1.952 1.952 236 157. ‘46.957 2.256 235.743 8 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’47.013 2,312 235,619 9 77 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1’47,019 2,318 235,606 10 63 George Russell Mercedes 1’47,113 2,412 235,399 11 10 Pierre Gasly Renaly 144/27. 17 234.731 12 3 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1’47.435 2.734 234.694 13 2 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1’47.490 2.789 234.574 14 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1’47.848 3.147 233.795 15 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 6 23 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1’47.996 3.295 233.475 17 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1’48.051 3.350 233.356 18 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1’48.105 3.404 233.239 19 27 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 24 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1’52.099 7.398 224.929
