George Russell took his second win of the season but was stripped post race in devastating fashion. The top of the podium at Spa Francorchamps after Russell’s disqualification was allocated post race to Lewis Hamilton, his second time this year.
Qualifying Summary: Verstappen fastest but started 11th
Max Verstappen took pole position in Q3 at Belgium but despite this being his ninth pole position this season he started Sunday’s race in 11th after a ten-place penalty for a power unit change. Charles Leclerc started the race in first place instead, followed by Red Bull driver Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton in third.
Race Summary: Lighter Car Cost Russell Victory In Belgium
George Russell put on an amazing drive during Sunday’s race, but it cost him victory in the end when his car was weighed post race at 1.5kg under the allowed limit. As a result, he was disqualified of the victory and was left without points.
Mercedes still had reason to celebrate as the victory was allocated to Lewis Hamilton. It is the 105th career victory for the British driver. Luckily the last race before the summer break produced some great racing at the front of the field, and was arguably Russell’s best drive of his career, before it all fell apart after the podium celebrations had ended with the weight penalty.
‘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.’, Russell wrote in a post on social media.
Mercedes allowed Russel to take a different strategy to Hamilton which initially brought them a double triumph. From the beginning it seemed that Hamilton was the closest to victory after he overtook Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc at the start of the race. His crew decided to pit him twice and it turned out to be a brilliant strategy, as he maintained his dominant position, behind only Russell after he switched to a one stop strategy. Ten laps before the end, it was clear that Russell was dedicated to a one stop strategy, opting to risk it all for the win with his teammate seven seconds behind.
Hamilton gradually reduced the gap over the final laps, to less than a second in the closing two laps, but Russell was able to hang on with better traction out of the corners. With Russell finishing first, Hamilton Second and Oscar Piastri a close third, before Russells disqualification was announced following the podium celebrations.
In an interview post race, Hamilton was not happy that his victory came due to the disqualification of his teammate.
“I feel for George, and you don’t want to win a race through a disqualification, but we have been back in the fight for victories in the past few races,” Hamilton said. “It is incredibly competitive now.”
This win provided Lewis a third consecutive podium after the victory in Great Britain and the third place in Hungary last week. Oscar Piastri also drove another great race after his win in Hungary with great pace right to the finish, closing to under 1 second by the final lap, but was unable to get close enough to attempt a pass of the two British drivers. After the disqualification of Russel, he was awarded second place.
“I am quite happy overall, I think it was a really well-executed race,” he said at the post race press conference.
Russell’s disqualification also promoted Charles Leclerc to third in the final standings. Prior to this news, he had the following to say regarding his 4th place finish:
“It is very simple, what happened is that we’re just not fast enough. I felt like we were the fourth-fastest car behind McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes, and on a normal race track, it is very difficult to keep them behind“.
Max Verstappen can be satisfied with the weekend in Belgium, after starting from 11th place and finishing fourth, Max goes into the summer break 78 points ahead of Lando Norris and 100 points clear to Charles Leclerc. He had the following to say post race:
“So, I think from P11 we did a good job. I think looking at the championship it was a positive day for me, of course you want more but yeah with our pace the last few races, it’s not realistic to think we can go P11 all the way to the front again. Those days are behind unfortunately“.
Behind Verstappen at Spa was his closest championship rival in the drivers standings, Lando Norris, while Carlos Sainz Jr. came home sixth. Sergio Perez finished the race in seventh place, while Fernando Alonso, although frustrated with his result, managed a solid eighth. Esteban Ocon was ninth, with Daniel Ricciardo taking out the final point.
After a break of almost a month, the next F1 race will be at at Zandvoort in the Netherlands.
