George Russell has been disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix after his car was found to be underweight, with Lewis Hamilton inheriting his win. (More Football News)
Belgian Grand Prix: Hamilton Given Victory After Russell Disqualification
Russell had pulled off a remarkable victory from sixth on the grid with a one-stop strategy, beating Lewis Hamilton, who had led for most of the race, by half a second
Russell had pulled off a remarkable victory from sixth on the grid with a one-stop strategy, beating Lewis Hamilton, who had led for most of the race, by half a second.
However, the 26-year-old's car failed a post-race weight check, with a report later confirming that while the car had initially been compliant with the minimum weight, 2.8 litres of fuel were then removed.
That, coupled with Russell's one-stop strategy that saw his hard tyres worn down, took him 1.5 kilograms below the weight limit.
Mercedes told stewards that "there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team" after the findings were revealed.
As a result, Hamilton has his second win of the season, three weeks on from his British Grand Prix triumph at the start of the month, and the 105th in his career.
Oscar Piastri moved up to P2, while Charles Leclerc took P3.
An official statement from team principal Toto Wolff following the verdict read: "We have to take our disqualification on the chin.
"We have clearly made a mistake and need to ensure we learn from it. We will go away, evaluate what happened and understand what went wrong. To lose a 1-2 is frustrating, and we can only apologise to George, who drove such a strong race.
"Lewis is, of course, promoted to P1; he was the fastest guy on the two-stop and is a deserving winner.
"Despite the disqualification, there are many positives we can take from this weekend. We had a car that was the benchmark in today's race across two different strategies. Only a few months ago, that would have been inconceivable.
"We head into the summer break having won three of the past four races. We will look to come back after shutdown rejuvenated and with the aim of maintaining our positive trajectory."
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Belgian Grand Prix Revised Top 10
1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
4. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
5. Lando Norris (McLaren)
6. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
7. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
8. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
9. Esteban Ocon (Alphine)
10. Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
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