Russell hustle
George Russell DISQUALIFIED hours after winning Belgian Grand Prix as F1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton takes first place
Lewis Hamilton was rewarded for his early dominance by taking the race win following Russell's disqualification
GEORGE RUSSELL had his Belgium Grand Prix victory snatched away from him as he was brutally DISQUALIFIED.
The Mercedes driver’s car was under the minimum weight by 1.5kg after the race having been referred to the stewards.
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The car had initially been found to be compliant with the minimum weight of 798kg but 2.8 litres of fuel were then removed.
Russell’s luck has gone from bad to worse after he ran out of fuel in qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix leaving him starting in p17.
He was also forced to retire his car in Silverstone in the race before that due to a mechanical fault after securing pole.
Lewis Hamilton inherited the win, while McLaren's Oscar Piastri was promoted into second and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in third.
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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said: “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 was the fastest guy on the two-stop and is a deserving winner.”
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Hamilton had been left seething with his team for insisting on pitting him while giving Russell the green-light for a one-stop.
The seven-time world champion, who was on fresher tyres, was snapping at the heels of his teammate by half a second until the very end.
Hamilton aimed a dig at his team after the race for calling him too early for both his pit-stops.
He said: "George wasn’t really in my race for most of it. And so if the strategy had been right, he wouldn’t have been in my race.
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“So we wouldn’t have been having that but it’s great that at the end we do have cars that are competing.
"It is what it is. I’ll move forward. I’ll go into my break and have a good time.
WHO COULD REPLACE HAMILTON AT MERCEDES?
Mercedes will have a vacant seat for 2025.
Here, SunSport's F1 correspondent Ben Hunt looks at FIVE potential candidates who could replace him and partner George Russell in the Silver Arrows.
Oscar Piastri - McLaren have sewn up Lando Norris to a new long-term contract that should (in theory) put him out of Mercedes' reach. However, they are yet to tie down his teammate Piastri, 22. The Aussie has an excellent record and won the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles before spending a year on the sidelines with Alpine and getting his chance in F1 with McLaren. He impressed on his debut season last year and has the potential to be a world champion.
Daniel Ricciardo - The experienced driver's future remains in doubt as he bides his time at Red Bull's B-team. Ricciardo would be low-hassle and offer some stability but by that time he would be 35. It seems unlikely that they would opt for him at this point in his career, but if he has a good season this year, he could come into the reckoning.
Kimi Antonelli - You may not have heard of the Italian, but he is mustard. Still only 17, he has won at all the junior categories and has been part of the Mercedes young driver programme since 2019. This season he has been promoted from F4 to F2, where he has been tipped to shine. A good debut season in F2 could sway Mercedes into taking a risk on him for 2025. Antonelli and his family are close to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
Mick Schumacher - Wolff has always been so incredibly supportive of Schumacher and spoken highly of him, that you'd at least expect him to come into consideration. He knows the team from his role as reserve driver and consequently would get up to speed. But speed is also the problem. He was shocking at Haas and if he really was THAT good, he'd still be driving in F1.
Alex Albon - A more-sensible choice would be the London-born Albon. A great guy who is also very quick. He has a fantastic relationship with Russell and would be the low-maintenance quick partnership similar to Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas that swept to successive titles. Albon would take little convincing to join from Williams and Mercedes would not need to pay him half of the £50million they were dishing out to Hamilton.
“You have to put the faith in the people you work with. I put my faith in my strategists, I should be able to lean on them.
“Did I know I was at risk of getting one stopped by my teammate? They didn’t tell me that.”
F1 2025 grid
Here are the confirmed driver line ups for the F1 2025 season so far:
Red Bull: Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez
Ferrari: Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes: George Russell and TBC
McLaren: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll
Williams: Alex Albon and TBC
Sauber: Nico Hulkenberg and TBC
Alpine: Pierre Gasly and TBC
RB: Yuki Tsunoda and TBC
Haas: Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon
Mercedes have now won three of the last four races in what is Hamilton’s last season before his move to Ferrari.
But they were nowhere to be seen in qualifying as George slumped into seventh and Hamilton secured fourth, but have now won three of the last four races.
Hamilton has certainly got his mojo back though and enjoyed a blistering start, overtaking Sergio Perez on the first-lap.
The British 39-year-old then eased past his new Ferrari teammate for next season Leclerc and into the lead on lap three.
Lando Norris, who is second in the drivers championship, put a major dent in his chances of dethroning Max Verstappen as a string of small mistakes cost him.
The McLaren man suffered another miserable start as he slipped from fourth into seventh.
By lap 22 Verstappen was battling with his old pal Norris, having bulldozed into fourth from 11th.
Norris had a go at overtaking the Dutchman into the final chicane of lap 24 but locked up and veered off the track.
He said: “I just need it to reset. I've given away a lot of points over the last four races, just because of stupid stuff. Mistakes and bad starts.”
Russell led the charge with eight laps to go but Hamilton was chipping away at his teammate in second.
Piastri danced around the outside of Leclerc to take third-place as he trailed Hamilton by five seconds on lap 36.
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Russell, Hamilton and Piastri were separated by a whisker in the closing laps and crossed the finish line nose to tail.
It was a welcome sight at a track which has been so used to Verstappen’s dominance.
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