George Russell issues response to dramatic disqualification from Belgian Grand Prix
Mercedes driver George Russell crouched down.
George Russell has addressed his “heartbreaking” Belgian GP disqualification which saw him lose the victory at Spa.
With tyre degradation turning out to be below Mercedes’ expectations on Grand Prix Sunday at Spa-Francorchamps, Russell called for the one-stop strategy and successfully nursed his hard tyres to the end, holding off Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton for what he thought was a third career victory.
George Russell loses Belgian GP win
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
But following the chequered flag, the FIA’s F1 technical director Jo Bauer, during routine mandatory checks of every car, confirmed that Russell’s Mercedes W15 was under the minimum weight of 796.5kg as required in Article 4.1 of the technical regulations.
This ultimately led to Russell’s disqualification from the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix results, expunging his win from the record books.
In a social media post to reference this development, Russell called it “heartbreaking”, though remains proud of his efforts and promised more wins to come in the future.
“Heartbreaking… We came in 1.5kg underweight and have been disqualified from the race,” he wrote.
“We left it all on the track today and I take pride in crossing the line first.
“There will be more to come.”
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Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com just ahead of the Russell DQ announcement, Mercedes principal Toto Wolff had said the team must take this decision on the chin if it came – which it ultimately did – while highlighting the huge positive that they were the “benchmark” in the race.
“Look, you know, we have to take it on the chin if the stewards decide against us,” he said.
“It is what it is, a mistake has happened or could have happened and a 1-2 would have bee been a great result going into the summer break, it couldn’t go any better.
“The positives, the very positive, that we can take from this race is that we had two cars that were the benchmark in this race with two different strategies. Who would have said that a few months ago? And that is that is really good to see.
“I think it’s the one-stop that you expect lots of rubber, maybe more, but there’s no excuse.
“If the stewards team deems it to be a breach of regulations, then it is what it is. We have to learn from that and, as a team, you know there are more positives to take.
“Obviously, for George, that’s a massive blow – a driver and all his childhood dreams to win these races and then it’s being probably taken away, but he’s gonna win many more.”
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