Officials have disqualified George Russell from the 2024 Belgian GP after they found his car under the minimum weight. This came after an impressive win that saw him complete one stop ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri.
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The FIA came to this decision after reweighing his car alongside the tyres. Hamilton’s W15 passed the weight check.
Hamilton has now inherited his 105th win with Piastri P2. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has claimed P3 from Pole position. Officials have also stripped Mercedes of their first 1-2 finish since Brazil 2022.
FIA
The FIA Technical Delegate Report said:
After the Race, car number 63 was weighed and its weight was 798.0 kg, which is the minimum weight required by TR Article 4.1. After this, fuel was drained out of the car and 2.8 litres 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.
As this is 1.5 kg below the minimum weight requested in TR Article 4.1, which also has to be respected at all times during the Competition, I am referring this matter to the Stewards for their consideration.
Too Soon?
This comes after Russell thanked Mercedes for their “amazing strategy” and even celebrated on social media. It was his second victory of the 2024 season, and his third overall.
P1!!! 🏆 From P6 to the top step, what an incredible feeling! Running the hard tyres for 34 laps was a risk but it paid off. 💪 Heading into the break with a 1-2 shows all the hard work is paying off. We always believed and will never stop. Let’s go team!!! pic.twitter.com/lygsx4fVH6
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) July 28, 2024
As per the FIA, Mercedes “acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team.”
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