Russell heartbreak hands Hamilton victory

It was a story too good to be true – George Russell spying an opportunity for a shock win for Mercedes at the Belgian Grand Prix, realising pre-race expectations of tyre degradation at a steaming-hot Spa-Francorchamps were less than forecast, and calling his own strategy from the cockpit to one-stop his way to a famous victory. 

As it turned out, this tale had an unwelcome sting in it, as Russell was disqualified after post-race scrutineering checks found his car to be underweight by 1.5kg – which handed the win to his teammate Lewis Hamilton in circumstances driver and team struggled to find reason to wholeheartedly celebrate.

Russell’s disqualification promoted Hamilton to the top step, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to second, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to third, a dramatic final act before F1’s mid-season break pumped the brakes on a run of five races in six weekends. 

After the race, Russell’s car was found to weigh 796.5kg, 1.5kg below the minimum weight limit permitted by the sport’s regulations, after the car had its fuel drained in post-race checks. Hamilton was then promoted to his second victory in three races after going close to three years without a win. 

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Hours earlier, Russell had crossed the line 0.526secs ahead of Hamilton after coaxing 34 laps of Spa out of a set of hard-compound Pirellis. Russell, who had started from sixth, was projected to come out of a second pit stop in fifth place, and felt he could run long and hang on, and with little to lose, the team rolled the dice. 

Hamilton caught him rapidly in the closing stages and Piastri, in third, was even faster; one more lap, and the Australian may well have added a second win in seven days to go with his breakthrough success in Hungary. In the end, Piastri had to make do with advancing to fourth in the championship standings with his fourth podium of 2024. 

Leclerc’s inherited podium came after starting from pole, Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) the fastest driver on Saturday at Spa for a third straight year and – also for a third straight year – taking a grid penalty in Belgium for introducing engine components outside of his season’s allocation. 

Unlike 2022 (from 14th) and 2023 (from sixth), when Verstappen won anyway, the reigning world champion could only advance as far as fourth after Russell’s disqualification but, crucially given Red Bull’s advantage over the rest disappearing of late, finished ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris (fifth), extending his championship lead to 78 points. 

Red Bull’s advantage in the constructors’ championship was eroded to just 42 points after Sergio Perez finished seventh from second on the grid, falling to seventh in the drivers’ standings on a weekend where talk of his future at the team followed him at every turn. 

Remarkably, after not winning a race since that Brazil quinella in 2022, Mercedes has now won three of the past four Grands Prix; Verstappen, meanwhile, has a four-race run without victory for the first time since 2020.

Aussie watch

For the second Sunday in a row, Oscar Piastri started behind teammate Lando Norris and finished ahead of him, his Belgium race set up with a strong first lap that saw him jump to fourth place. 

Piastri led for four laps (laps 27-30) before his second pit stop, and then roared back towards the podium and passed Leclerc for what was third with eight laps left, which became second hours after the race. His second pit stop was less than ideal – Piastri ran long and clattered into his front jack man – with that, and needing two laps to pass Leclerc on lap 36, arguably being the reasons why he wasn’t able to show Hamilton a wheel on the final lap. 

Russell’s disqualification promoted Daniel Ricciardo into the points, after the RB driver’s strong recovery from an opening lap gone wrong looked to have left him in a hugely-frustrating 11th. 

Ricciardo elected to start with the soft-compound Pirelli tyre – the only driver in the field to do so – from 13th in a bid to make up positions, but lost a place on the first lap and spent the race furiously recovering from there, hanging on to 10th for eight laps before losing out to Alpine’s Esteban Ocon with just four laps left. 

Hours later, Ricciardo was promoted to 10th, and stays 13th in the standings with 12 points for the season.

In FIA Formula 3® action at Spa, Australia’s Christian Mansell remains in slim mathematical contention for the title after a wretched weekend in Belgium, the ART Grand Prix driver going pointless with 16th and 21st-place results in the sprint and feature races respectively. 

The 19-year-old’s weekend began to unravel when he qualified a season-worst 20th on Friday, and he crossed the line 19th in Saturday’s 12-lap sprint, gaining three places after the race when a trio of rivals were demoted with penalties. 

In Sunday’s feature, a host of incidents kept the safety car on track for nine of the 15 laps, and Mansell was involved in a clash with fellow title contender Arvid Lindblad (Prema Racing) at Turn 8 on lap 10, the British driver ending up in the gravel trap after being spun by Mansell. Mansell, who crossed the line in 14th, was hit with a 10-second time penalty for causing the incident and dropped to 21st as a consequence.

The non-scoring weekend means Mansell falls to sixth in the championship, trailing series leader Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident) by 32 points with a maximum of 39 available at the final round of the season on the undercard of the Italian Grand Prix (August 30 to September 1). 

Mansell’s compatriot Tommy Smith (Van Amersfoort Racing) was one of the drivers penalised after the sprint for repeated track limits transgressions, dropping to 25th after crossing the line in 18th place after his five-second time penalty was applied.

In Sunday’s feature, Smith finished 16th, 11.1secs behind first-time race-winner Callum Voisin (Rodin Motorsport), and the 22-year-old is 20th in the standings heading into the final round.

Unsung hero

If Ricciardo needed some help from Russell to get into the top 10, the driver who dumped him out of it – Alpine’s Esteban Ocon – gets the nod here. 

With the beleaguered team in the headlines again for the wrong reasons at Spa – team principal Bruno Famin is set to step aside – Ocon produced a starring performance befitting the ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ livery on the team’s machines in Belgium for Hollywood owner Ryan Reynolds’ new movie. 

The Frenchman qualified 10th in tricky conditions on Saturday and shone in the Sunday sun to bank two points, equalling teammate Pierre Gasly’s season tally after Gasly finished 13th. 

Number to know 

2: Hamilton’s victory means he’s just the second driver to win multiple Grands Prix this season after 14 rounds. 

Belgian Grand Prix: top 10

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1hr 19mins 57.566secs
2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.647secs
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +8.023secs
4. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) +8.700secs 
5. Lando Norris (McLaren) +9.324secs
6. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +19.269secs
7. Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing) +42.669secs
8. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +49.437secs
9. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +52.026secs
10. Daniel Ricciardo (RB) +54.400secs

Standings (top 5)

Drivers' championship

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) 277 points
2. Lando Norris (McLaren) 199
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 177 
4. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 167 
5. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 162

Constructors' championship

1. Red Bull Racing (408 points)
2. McLaren (366)
3. Ferrari (345)
4. Mercedes (266)
5. Aston Martin (73)

Next race

Round 15: Netherlands, Zandvoort (August 23-25)