Lewis Hamilton, after finishing second on track to his Mercedes teammate George Russell and his one-stop strategy, was promoted to win in Sunday’s (July 28) Rolex Belgian Grand Prix after Russell was disqualified for an underweight car just hours after the race ended.
“After the race, car No. 63 was weighed and its weight was 798.0 kg, which is the minimum weight required by Technical Regulations Article 4.1,” a report from the FIA’s technical delegate read. “After this, fuel was drained out of the car and 2.8 liters of fuel were removed.
“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. The car was weighed again on the FIA inside and outside scales and the weight was 796.5 kg. The calibration of the outside and inside scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor.”
“We have to take it on the chin if the stewards decide against ourselves,” said , Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. “It is what it is, the mistake has happened. We have to learn from that. As a team there are more positives to take. Obviously, for George it’s a massive blow.”
Oscar Piastri, the winner in Hungary a week ago, finished second, while polesitter Charles Leclerc took third. Max Verstappen finished fourth after starting 11th due to a 10-place grid penalty applied for an engine change.
Lando Norris finished fifth after a subpar race start, with Carlos Sainz in sixth, followed by Sergio Perez, who started second on the grid and added a point for setting the race’s fastest lap, in seventh. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finished eighth, Esteban Ocon came home ninth and Daniel Ricciardo took 10th.
In the World Drivers’ Championship, Verstappen’s lead over Norris is 277 points to 199 points. Leclerc is third with 177, 10 points clear of Piastri in fourth.
In the constructors’ standings, Red Bull leads McLaren 408 to 366. Ferrari is 21 back in third with 345 points.
The Race
Leclerc used a great start to lead into La Source, and Hamilton got the jump on Perez to take third. Verstappen picked up two quick spots and was in ninth after lap 1. Norris ran wide out of La Source and gave up two spots sorting himself out.
Hamilton used DRS to blast by Leclerc into Les Combes, and the Mercedes upgrades looked to be paying off after troubling performances in Friday’s practice sessions.
While…
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