George Russell disqualified from Belgian Grand Prix, making Lewis Hamilton the winner

George Russell was disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix because his car was underweight, making Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton the winner of the final Formula One race ahead of the summer break Sunday.

According to the stewards’ document, Mercedes “also acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team.”

This is the first disqualification the grid has seen since the 2023 U.S. Grand Prix, when Charles Leclerc and Hamilton were disqualified because an area of the skid planks on both cars was too thin.

In a statement, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the team had to take the disqualification “on the chin.”

“We have clearly made a mistake and need to ensure we learn from it,” he said. “We will go away, evaluate what happened and understand what went wrong. To lose a 1-2 is frustrating and we can only apologize 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.”

Diving into the details

Jo Bauer, the FIA Formula One technical delegate, said in his report following the Belgian GP that when Russell’s car was initially weighed, it came in at the minimum weight limit (798 kg, which is 1,759.29 pounds). But this was before the fuel was drained from the car. Article 4.1 of the technical regulations states, in part: “The mass of the car, without fuel, must not be less than 798 kg, at all times during the competition.”

Competitors are required to make sure at least one liter of fuel can be taken from the car as a sample, according to Article 6.5.2. The FIA drained 2.8 liters of fuel from his car to fulfill this requirement, but according to Bauer’s report, “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.”

Russell’s car “was weighed again on the FIA inside and outside scales and the weight was 796.5 kg,” which is 1,755.98 pounds. His car ultimately was found to be 1.5 kg (3.3 pounds) under the weight limit dictated by Article 4.1 (798 kg), which isn’t a small amount. Bauer wrote, “The calibration of the outside and inside scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor.”

Wolff held his usual post-race media session shortly after Bauer referred the situation to the stewards, and Wolff said he wouldn’t comment on the matter at that time. He was asked whether anything was damaged on the car that could’ve impacted the weight.

“No, I think it’s a one-stop that … you expect loss of rubber, maybe more, but it’s no excuse,” he said. “If, if the stewards deem it to be a breach of regulations, then it is what it is, and we have to learn from that, and as a team, given there are more positives to take, for George, but that’s a massive blow for a driver when his childhood dream is to (be) winning these races, then to be told it’s taken away, but he’s going to win many more.”

Russell’s final stint was 30-plus laps long on hard tires while others, like Hamilton, executed a two-stop race. Additionally, there wasn’t a cool-down lap after the Belgian GP given the length of the circuit, and this is typically when drivers pick up rubber to help offset any lost weight.

But this is just one of the numerous possibilities that could have contributed to why the car was underweight.

— Luke Smith contributed reporting to this story.

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(Photo: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images)