First place Mercedes driver George Russell of Great Britain, right, celebrates with his trophy while standing on the podium with second place Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain during the Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (AP) — Lewis Hamilton has been promoted to first place at the Belgian Grand Prix after race control disqualified his Mercedes teammate George Russell for driving an underweight car on Sunday.
Russell crossed the finish line first after just one pit stop, finishing just ahead of Hamilton, celebrating victory at Spa, which would have been the third of the British driver’s career.
However, race management found that his car weighed below the set limits and decided to disqualify his result.
“It’s heartbreaking to be disqualified from the race today. It was an incredible Grand Prix for us to make the one-stop strategy work,” said Russell. “Despite the disqualification, I’m obviously proud to have crossed the finish line first. It’s also good that the team was still able to take the win with Lewis.”
Hamilton brought his record 105 F1 victories to a record high for the former seven-time world champion. He has now won two of the last three races after his triumph at Silverstone earlier this month ended a nearly 1,000-day winless streak stretching back to the penultimate race of 2021. His resurgence comes after he decided to join Ferrari next season, ending his 12-year spell at Mercedes.
“I feel for George, and you don’t want to win a race by disqualification, but we’ve been in the fight for the win again the last few races,” Hamilton said. “It’s incredibly competitive now.”
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri moved up to second, while polesitter Charles Leclerc of Ferrari completed the podium.
Championship leader Max Verstappen was fourth after the three-time reigning champion started from 11th following a 10-place grid penalty for using too many engines in his Red Bull.
Lando Norris had another bad start in his McLaren and finished fifth, allowing Verstappen to extend his championship lead to 78 points.
“Overall it was a pretty positive day for me as we started from P11 and finished ahead of Lando, who is my biggest rival in the championship,” said Verstappen.
Russell’s disqualification ruined what was seen as a masterclass in tyre management by the 26-year-old driver who started sixth. He bucked just once, while the other top drivers all stopped twice during the 44-lap race.
His only stop was on lap 10, so Russell continued on the same tyres for 34 laps, holding off Hamilton, who had completed 18 laps on his final set of tyres.
After Russell let out a shout of joy at the checkered flag, his team radio half-jokingly praised him as “the tire whisperer.”
But it was all for nothing.
“We have to accept our disqualification,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff
“We clearly made a mistake and we have to make sure we learn from it… It’s frustrating to lose 1-2 and we can only apologise to George, who drove such a strong race.”
After struggling at the start of the season, Mercedes have now won three of the last four races, with Russell triumphing in Austria and Hamilton in Britain.
With McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari all on similar pace – and avoiding race-ending crashes – victory was a matter of small margins and good pit stop and tyre strategy execution, with the top six all passing within 10 seconds.
The seven winners in 13 races after the Hungarian GP ensured that this season was the most competitive since 2012.
Verstappen has now gone four races without a win after winning four of the first five Grands Prix this year.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was sixth, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who had started second in another poor performance from the under-pressure Mexican driver. Fernando Alonso was eighth for Aston Martin, with Esteban Ocon in his Alpine and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo rounding out the points.
The Spa circuit, set in the rolling forests of the Ardennes, is the longest in Formula 1 at seven kilometres (4.3 miles). It remained dry on Sunday, in contrast to the constant drizzle the day before, which led to the postponement of a Formula 2 race.
Now that 14 of the 24 races have been completed, the season goes into a summer break until the Dutch GP on August 25.
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AP Auto Racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Mercedes driver George Russell of Great Britain, left, leads Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain as they drive their cars during the Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
First place Mercedes driver George Russell of Great Britain, center, celebrates victory on the podium with second place Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain, left, and third place McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia during the Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Mercedes driver George Russell of Great Britain, right, is congratulated by his team after crossing the finish line to take first place in the Formula One Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Mercedes driver George Russell of Great Britain drives his car during the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
First place Mercedes driver George Russell of Great Britain celebrates on the podium after winning the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Mercedes driver George Russell of Great Britain receives the checkered flag as he crosses the finish line to win the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (Simon Wohlfahrt, Pool Photo via AP)
First-place Mercedes driver George Russell of Great Britain, center, poses on the podium with second-place Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain, left, and third-place McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia during the Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Mercedes driver George Russell of Great Britain, left, drives his car ahead of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands during the Formula One Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Mercedes driver George Russell of Great Britain crosses the finish line to win the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Mercedes crew watches the Formula 1 Grand Prix from their garage at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (Simon Wohlfahrt, Pool Photo via AP)
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain drives his car during the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia drives his car during the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco, center, leads the pack at the start of the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco gets out of his car during the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Crew prepares the car of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands for the start of the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
First place Mercedes driver George Russell of Great Britain looks up at his trophy on the podium during the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
First place Mercedes driver George Russell of Great Britain, center, celebrates victory on the podium with second place Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain, left, and third place McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia during the Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
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