28/07/2024
NEWS STORY
George Russell led home a one-two finish at the Belgian Grand Prix, before being disqualified post-race with his car below the minimum weight required. Lewis Hamilton therefore inherited the win, his 105th in his career, and his second of the season.
Starting P3 and P6 on the Medium tyre, both drivers made progress in the early stages with Lewis claiming the lead on lap 3. He ran a two-stop strategy from there, taking the Hard compound at both stops as he maintained his advantage over his fellow two stoppers. George, meanwhile, having stopped for the Hard tyre on lap nine, ultimately shifted to the one-stop strategy. This proved effective and, despite coming under pressure in the closing stages from Lewis, held on to cross the line in first.
Unfortunately, post-race checks found George's car to be 1.5 kg below the minimum weight required. He was therefore disqualified with Lewis promoted to first, claiming the team's third victory in the last four races.
Lewis Hamilton: It is of course disappointing for the team to lose the 1-2 but there are lots of positives to take away from today.
The car was feeling good, and we had much better pace than we expected. There were several cars that seemed similar in terms of performance but once we had got ahead, we were able to maintain that position. We committed to the two-stop strategy and covered those directly behind us. George was able to make the one-stop work and, although I got close to him in the final few laps, I was unable to get past in the dirty air.
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. It is incredibly competitive now, so we will need to work hard to battle for wins more consistently. Nevertheless, we can go into the summer break with momentum and positivity.
George Russell: It is heartbreaking to be disqualified from today's race. It had been an unbelievable Grand Prix for us to make the one-stop strategy work. In what turned out to be my final stint, the tyres just kept getting better and better. I was nursing them in the early stages and as we went further, I became more and more convinced we could get to the end on them. It was a risk worth taking and it looked like it had paid off.
Despite the disqualification, I am of course proud to have crossed the line first. It is also good that the team was still able to take the victory with Lewis. He drove a great race and was the fastest car out there on the two-stop strategy. Whilst I'm incredibly disappointed, I know we will bounce back stronger after the summer break, starting in Zandvoort.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: We have to take our disqualification on the chin. We have clearly made a mistake and need to ensure we learn from it. We will go away, evaluate what happened and understand what went wrong. To lose a 1-2 is frustrating and we can only apologise to George who drove such a strong race. Lewis is of course promoted to P1; he was the fastest guy on the two-stop and is a deserving winner.
Despite the disqualification, there are many positives we can take from this weekend. We had a car that was the benchmark in today's race across two different strategies. Only a few months ago, that would have been inconceivable. We head into the summer break having won three of the past four races. We will look to come back after shutdown rejuvenated and with the aim of maintaining our positive trajectory.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: It's really tough for George to have been disqualified from the win after such an impressive drive. He did a brilliant job to hang onto the tyres and defend to the finish. We don't yet understand why the car was underweight following the race but will investigate thoroughly to find the explanation. We expect that the loss of rubber from the one stop was a contributing factor, and we'll work to understand how it happened. We won't be making any excuses though. It is clearly not good enough and we need to make sure it doesn't happen again.
It was a relief to have Lewis in second to inherit the victory. He also drove a strong race and was the fastest two-stopping car out there today. We can be pleased with the car pace but overall, it's disappointing not to walk away with the 1-2. That is particularly true after such a good recovery from one of our most difficult Fridays, and following a race that was so well managed by the team. We'll learn from this and be back strong in Zandvoort after the summer break.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Spa here.