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George Russell was disqualified from Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix just hours after claiming a thrilling victory on track.
The 26-year-old opted for a bold race strategy, pitting only once for tyres, and it seemed to have paid off in brilliant fashion as he fended off a late challenge from Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to claim what he thought was his third win in Formula One.
However, in an initial post-race check, Russell’s Mercedes car was found to be 1.5 kg under the weight permitted in the regulations, following the obligatory drainage of fuel.
The matter was referred to the FIA stewards, who an hour later confirmed that Russell had been disqualified from the race classification. The driver himself, it has been reported, found out about the disqualification whilst on his way home to Monaco.
Russell’s disqualification meant team-mate Hamilton claimed his 105th F1 win, with Oscar Piastri therefore finishing second and Charles Leclerc in third.
The FIA said in a statement: “During the hearing the team representative confirmed that the measurement is correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly. The team also acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team.”
British driver Russell opted for a bold one-stop strategy, completing over 30 laps on his set of hard tyres – but it may have been this tactic which resulted in the car’s fall in weight, due to unexpected tyre wear.
In addition the usual cool-down lap – when drivers often turn to the side of the track to pick up tyre granules and therefore weight – after the chequered flag does not take place at Spa-Francorchamps, due to the length of the circuit. Spa’s 7km track is the longest on the F1 calendar.
An initial report from FIA Technical Delegate Jo Bauer detailed the specifics: “After the race, car number 63 (Russell) was weighed and its weight was 798.0 kg, which is the minimum weight required by TR Article 4.1
“After this, fuel was drained out of the car and 2.8 litres 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.
“As this is 1.5 kg below the minimum weight requested in TR Article 4.1, which also has to be respected at all times during the competition, I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration.”
Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified from last year’s US Grand Prix in similar circumstances, after both were found to have breached the rules governing the floor of their cars.
On Sunday, Hamilton assumed the lead of the race on lap three of 44, but Russell, who started sixth, had other plans and he adopted a bold one-stop strategy to outfox his rivals and claim what he thought was just the third victory of his career.
Russell crossed the line a mere half a second ahead of Hamilton in a thrilling finale which, ultimately, was rendered irrelevant after the disqualification.
“We have to take it on the chin,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said. “A mistake has happened and a one-two would have been a great result going into the summer break.
“We have to learn from that. As a team there were positives but for George it is a massive blow for it to be taken away.”
On Instagram, Russell said: “Heartbreaking. We came in 1.5kg underweight and have been disqualified from the race. We left it all on the track today and I take pride in crossing the line first.
“There will be more to come.”
