Yahoo Finance George Russell Disqualified, Lewis Hamilton Inherits Win at Spa
After his stunning win at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps executed on a one-stop strategy George Russell faces disqualification.
After the race, No. 63 was weighed, and it matched the minimum of 798.0 kg, but after the fuel was drained of 2.8 liters, per a letter from Jo Bauer, FIA Formula 1 Technical Delegate to The Stewards, the car weighed 796.5 kg.
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.🏆💙 pic.twitter.com/6RfucAqPyF— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) July 28, 2024
The standard for underweight cars is a full disqualification which elevated Russell's Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to a win.
Hamilton's car passed weight checks after the race. With this win Hamilton moves to 105 race wins and Russell moves back to two.
Instead of Russell being the second multi-racer winner of the season, his teammate Hamilton is.
Hamilton was clearly upset about how the strategy played out and stated that he was not informed that his teammate was underpitting to a one-stop strategy and would've liked that information as he felt he was being asked to pit with tires remaining.
When Russell still believed he won the race, he gave his teammate credit for controlling the race early as Mercedes proves to be better as the season progresses.
"He really controlled that race, and if circumstances were different, he would have won this race," Russell said.
The circumstances did change when Russell was reported underweight.
Last October, Hamilton was the last driver stripped of a podium finish at the United States Grand Prix when a floor plank was.2 millimeters too thin after wear from the race.
At 6:00 PM local time, Russell and the team were summoned to meet with The Stewards.
At 6:20 PM local time, Russell's W14 was reweighed as The Stewards had a meeting with the Mercedes team.
At 6:48 PM, The Stewards released their decision on the infringement on Russell's disqualification.
"Car 63 is disqualified from the Race classification. All other drivers move up in the classification."
With Hamilton's win, Oscar Piastri moves up to second place and Charles Leclerc becomes the final member of the podium.
While competitors, fans, and pundits await the official report, British reporter Ted Kravitz gave the spoiler.
"Spoiler alert, George is going to lose the place and be disqualified," Kravitz said.
While a foregone conclusion to an underweight car, we still await The Stewards report.
As Ted Kravitz signed off of Ted's Notebook, he stated that he was 'about to get run over by the race-winning car as Hamilton's No. 44 W14 rolled by and the Mercedes 1-2 team photo abandoned.
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