George Russell believed he had surged to an incredible victory in the Belgium Grand Prix on Sunday, but the Englishman’s car was discovered to be underweight, and he is expected to be disqualified from the competition.
Lewis Hamilton, a Mercedes teammate, is predicted to win the Belgian Grand Prix, disqualifying George Russell after it was discovered that his car was underweight.
Russell and his Mercedes team were reported to the stewards by Jo Bauer, the FIA’s technical delegate for Formula 1. Russell’s car was weighed. Russell’s vehicle weighed 1.5 kg less than the required minimum, meaning the Englishman would likely lose the race.
According to Bauer’s report, car number 63 weighed 798.0 kg after the race, which is the minimum weight required by TR Article 4.1. Following this, 2.6 liters of fuel were removed from the car and the fuel was drained out. Despite TR Article 6.5.2 being fulfilled, the car was not completely drained in accordance with the draining procedure that the team submitted in their legality documents.
“The vehicle weighed 796.5 kg when it was weighed once more on the FIA indoor and outdoor scales. The competitor attested to and saw the outside and inside scale calibrations. I am referring this to the Stewards for their consideration because this weighs 1.5 kg less than the minimum weight specified in TR 4.1, which must also be adhered to at all times during the Competition.”
Russell began the race sixth on the grid and believed he had pulled off a stunning victory in Spa. During the 44-lap race, the 26-year-old bravely decided to pit just once, which gave him the advantage over Hamilton, Oscar Piastri in third, and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari in fourth.
After starting from pole position, Leclerc lost the lead after two laps to Hamilton. The seven-time world champion, who had won four times at Spa, appeared headed for his second victory in three races.
Russell, however, decided to take a chance and pit just once, while Hamilton and the majority of the other drivers on the gird chose to pit twice. The Mercedes driver spent the remainder of the race tending to his deteriorating hard tires after stopping on lap 10.
Surprisingly, though, Russell managed to maintain his car’s lead and finished only 0.5 seconds ahead of his teammate despite Hamilton catching up to him. That would have been his third career victory before the infraction on his car was discovered.
After the race, it took over two hours for Russell’s infraction to be reported. This implied that the Englishman could take the top prize from the podium.
Before the infraction was discovered, he remarked, “Amazing result, definitely didn’t predict this win this morning in our strategy meeting.” “However, the car felt fantastic, we had made a lot of adjustments since Friday night, and the tires were really comfortable.
“We can pull off a successful one-stop, I just kept saying that, and the strategy worked incredibly well. Well done, Lewis. I’m sure he would have won if the circumstances had been a little different. He really dominated that race. But finishing one-two was such a fantastic outcome for the team and a terrific way to start the break.
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