Lewis Hamilton was handed his second Formula 1 victory of the season after his Mercedes team-mate George Russell was disqualified for having an underweight car at Spa-Francorchamps.
Having ran a one-stop strategy, Russell held off the two-stopping Hamilton in the closing stages of the Belgian Grand Prix to intially lead a Mercedes one-two finish. But Russell’s car failed post-race checks after his car was found to be 1.5kg below the mininum weight limit, and his third career win was taken away.
Hamilton had looked the likely victor for much of the race, having took second away from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez at the start and then swept past Ferrari’s poleman Charles Leclerc for the lead on lap three
Leclerc briefly found himself back in front when Hamilton made his first stop after 11 laps, and he rejoined behind the British driver in fifth after making his tyre change on the next lap.
The pair regained first and second once Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso pitted, with Hamilton almost two seconds clear.
Leclerc was the first to pit second time around, with Hamilton covering off the threat of undercut by coming in after 27 laps and remaining ahead.
Having ran fifth early and pitted after 10 laps, Russell moved to the lead and decided to try and make his hard tyres last until the end. Hamilton used his fresher rubber to eradicate a 7s deficit by the time the race entered the final two laps, but he wasn’t able to find a way by before the chequered flag.
Russell was disqualified over two hours after the race had finished, with Hamilton taking victory ahead of Piastri who passed Leclerc with eight laps to go.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen recovered from 11th following his grid penalty to edge McLaren’s Lando Norris to fifth, with Sainz surviving an excursion through the gravel to take seventh ahead of Perez, Alonso and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Featured image credit: @MercedesAMGF1 on X
