Lewis Hamilton has won the Belgian Grand Prix after team mate George Russell, who had originally come home in first, was disqualified following the race for an underweight car.
The Mercedes duo had engaged in a thrilling late chase, with two-stopper Hamilton charging down his one-stopping team mate, but he was unable to pass on track for the victory, with McLaren's Oscar Piastri finishing third.
Following the conclusion of the Grand Prix, a Technical Delegate’s Report stated that Russell's car had been found to be underweight, with the matter referred to the stewards. As detailed by the FIA technical delegate, Russell's Mercedes was initially weighed in at 798kg - which is exactly the weight limit.
However, it is the weight limit for the car without fuel on board - and after a requisite 2.8 litres of fuel were extracted from the car for required post-race checks for compliance, the W15 subsequently weighed in at 796.5kg, considerably below the weight limit.
Russell was subsequently disqualified from the results with Mercedes acknowledging a "genuine error" by the team.
Mercedes drivers George Russell (left) and Lewis Hamilton (right) race to the finish at the Belgium Grand Prix.
Elsewhere in the on-track action, 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 had taken 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 for what would have been his third Grand Prix win without his disqualification.
Behind the Mercedes pair, Piastri worked his way forwards to claim third for McLaren, which is now second, while Charles Leclerc will move up to third in the Ferrari. Max Verstappen bounced back from his P11 start to put his Red Bull into fifth place on the road, and now fourth in the results.
"All in all it was quite a positive day for me, considering we started at P11, and we finished in front of Lando who is my main rival in the Championship," said Verstappen post race. "I think we did everything right with the strategy today and I had a good clean start. I was in the DRS train and it was difficult to pass, but I think strategy wise we did everything that we could to the limit. It was tough to make it with two mediums and a hard tyre and we could potentially have taken more position if we started with the hard tyre, but I think we did a good job and maximised our result today. It wasn’t realistic to start P11 and fly to the front, so I am overall happy with our performance. We are looking forward to the summer break and having a bit of time to relax, but at the same time we are committed to being better and faster and are trying to find solutions as we go into the rest of the season. However, everyone has been doing a great job and will have a well deserved break. We had a great start to the season, our last few races have been a bit more difficult, but we have been pushing to find a solution how to do that. Next race is obviously my home race in Zandvoort. It will be a tough battle and it will be all about tyre management, but it will be great to be in front of my home crowd again."
Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on July 28, 2024 in Spa, Belgium.
Despite getting close to Verstappen, Lando Norris had to settle for fifth on what looked to be a tough day at times for the McLaren man, and his former team mate Carlos Sainz claimed sixth behind for Ferrari.Red Bull’s Sergio Perez ended the day down in P7, having been overtaken by Sainz in the latter stages amid continuing pressure around the Mexican’s place in the team.Fernando Alonso took eighth for Aston Martin with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and RB's Daniel Ricciardo rounding out the top-10.
Lance Stroll followed in the Aston Martin in P11 and Alex Albon took for Williams.Pierre Gasly was 13th for Alpine on a weekend where Bruno Famin’s departure as Team Principal was announced, while Kevin Magnussen in the Haas crossed the line in 14th.There were again no points for Kick Sauber, with Valtteri Bottas ending the race in P15, ahead of RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, the Williams of Logan Sargeant and Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg bringing up the rear in P18.Zhou Guanyu was the only retirement of the day, having suffered a hydraulic issue with his Kick Sauber.
F1 will now embark on its traditional summer break before returning for the Dutch Grand Prix on August 23-25.
