The weight problem breaks disqualified Russell 'the heart'
George Russell's F1 Victory Stolen Two Hours After Surprise Win in Belgium: Mercedes in Search, Red Bull Also Worried
George Russell was crestfallen after having his Formula-1 surprise win in Belgium taken away from him due to his car being too light. "It breaks my heart to be disqualified from today's race. It was an incredible Grand Prix," the Briton said, who felt like a three-time Grand-Prix winner for around two hours after a brave one-stop strategy.
However, he was later disqualified due to the underweight status of his car, allowing Lewis Hamilton to claim his 105th career victory instead. After refueling at the weigh bridge, the Silver Arrow with the number 63 of Russell weighed in at 1.5 kilograms less than the minimum weight of 798 kilograms for a Formula-1 car.
"We will go through the events and understand what went wrong. Losing a double victory is frustrating, and we can only apologize to George, who drove such a strong race," Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said after the last Grand Prix before the summer break.
Was it due to tire wear?
How could this have happened? Mercedes is still investigating. "We still don't understand why the car was underweight after the race, but we will thoroughly investigate to find an explanation. We believe that tire wear played a role in only making one stop, and we will work to understand how that happened. We will not make excuses," Chief Engineer Andrew Shovlin explained.
The competition had bet on two stops and had passed Russell in the closing stages of the race. "That was incredible from Russell," Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko praised the 26-year-old tire whisperer.
Mercedes admitted to the stewards that "it was an honest mistake from the team," according to the motor sport world governing body FIA. A possible appeal against the judgment is therefore off the table.
Hamilton benefited most from the disqualification, having driven a dominant race at the front. "I feel sorry for George, and no one wants to win a race through a disqualification. But we were fighting for victories in the recent races," the seven-time world champion and record holder said, looking forward to a little vacation.
Concerns at Red Bull
Meanwhile, there are concerns at the current world champion team. Sergio Perez, teammate of Max Verstappen, had the opportunity to finish well from second place but unfortunately did not manage it. "Sergio had the chance to finish well from second place. That didn't happen," motorsport advisor Helmut Marko said. In the end, Perez finished far behind Verstappen, who started from eleventh place and worked his way up to almost the podium.
Perez has been struggling for weeks - his qualifying in Spa was initially a ray of hope. In the end, Perez finished only seventh. "He completely fell apart in the last stint," Marko added. Rumors suggest that Perez could lose his cockpit soon.
Red Bull needs a more reliable driver to win the championship in the constructors' standings again. Marko further: "The situation here is such that we will have to go through the entire situation for 2025 as well." Theoritically, Red Bull could call on Yuki Tsunoda or Daniel Ricciardo from the sister team Racing Point.
Despite George Russell's impressive one-stop strategy in Belgium, his car was found to be underweight, leading to his disqualification. This allowed Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes AMG to claim victory, marking his 105th career win in Formula 1. This incident has raised concerns at Red Bull Racing, as their driver Sergio Perez struggled in the race and finished far behind Max Verstappen.
