According to the technical delegate in Spa, the Englishman’s car was one and a half kilograms too light after a test. The stewards had no choice but to disqualify him. Teammate Lewis Hamilton celebrated his 105th victory, Oscar Piastri (McLaren) came second.
The minimum weight of a Formula 1 car is 798 kilograms, but Russell’s car weighed only 796.5 kilograms. “During the hearing, the team representative confirmed that the measurement was correct and that all necessary procedures were carried out correctly. The team also acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that this was a genuine error on the part of the team,” the stewards said in their statement.
“We have to accept our disqualification,” said team boss Toto Wolff in a statement. “We clearly made a mistake and we must ensure that we learn from it. We will go away, analyse the events and understand what went wrong. Losing a one-two is frustrating and we can only apologise to George, who drove such a strong race.”
Russell had the best strategy
Mercedes had previously celebrated an unexpected double victory, with Russell beating fellow Brit Hamilton by 0.526 seconds thanks to a bold one-stop strategy. Russell started from sixth place in the last race before the summer break and lived off his second set of tires for 34 laps, while the competition relied on at least two pit stops. Ultimately, however, there was no Mercedes’ first double victory since November 2022 in Sao Paulo, where Russell won ahead of Hamilton.
Behind Piastri, Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari finished third. World Championship leader Max Verstappen finished fourth from eleventh place on the grid, while second-placed Lando Norris finished fifth. Carlos Sainz finished sixth in the second Ferrari. Sergio Perez had to settle for seventh place in the second Red Bull after driving away from second position. In the World Championship standings, Verstappen is now 78 points ahead of Norris, while Leclerc is exactly 100 points behind in third place. Piastri, Sainz, Hamilton, Perez and Russell follow closely behind in the other places.
Verstappen from eleventh to fourth
Behind Piastri, Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari finished third. World Championship leader Max Verstappen finished fourth from eleventh place on the grid, while second-placed Lando Norris finished fifth. Carlos Sainz finished sixth in the second Ferrari. Sergio Perez had to settle for seventh place in the Red Bull after starting from second position.
Leclerc had maintained the lead from pole position at the start, and Hamilton had moved past Perez into second place. On the third lap, the Mercedes driver attacked Leclerc on the Kemmel straight and took the lead with the help of DRS. Verstappen, meanwhile, moved up to eighth place, but was then held up by Norris. On the eleventh lap, the Dutchman got a new set of hard tires, and the leading group followed shortly afterwards. Piastri gained a place and pushed Perez out of the top three.
Norris, who lost his seventh place to Verstappen, and Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari were the ones who stayed out the longest. Verstappen was pushed to fifth place by Sainz’s pit stop and Perez’s second. Leclerc attempted an undercut against Hamilton with his second stop after lap 26, but Ferrari botched this with a slow tire change.
“Two points gained on Lando”
But Russell was in the lead, having to rely on his hard tyres for 34 laps. In the last four laps, the Mercedes duo battled it out, and Piastri also came dangerously close. But Russell stayed in front.
“We are negatively surprised. It turns out that overtaking is just as difficult as in Hungary, even though the straights are much longer here,” said Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko in an interview with ServusTV. “The positive thing is that we have gained two points on Lando again.”
