After his Mercedes teammate’s car was disqualified from the race, Lewis Hamilton, who had won the Belgian Grand Prix, said he had “mixed feelings” and showed sympathy for Russell.
Conversely, Russell called his disqualification for an underweight car after the race “heartbreaking”.
The British pair had earlier crossed the finishing line nose-to-nail in a gripping conclusion to the race at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday having adopted different pit-stop strategies.
Russell, who risked on a risky one-stopper after running only fifth through the first stint, gained track position behind Hamilton, who had dominated the race for the first half of the race on a traditional two-stop strategy after a brilliant start from third on the grid.
Hamilton moved up from second to the win, his fifth at Spa and a career-high 105th, after Russell’s car was later determined to be underweight by the FIA technical delegate and excluded from the results.
“Mixed feelings for today’s result,” Hamilton wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday night. While I’m obviously delighted with the victory, I also feel bad for George and think it’s a shame the team didn’t win the one-two.
Still, there are many good things to take away from today. We weren’t expecting to be leading or moving at the speed we were at the beginning of the weekend, so it’s encouraging to see how far we’ve come and that we are still in the fight. We will carry all of these encouraging factors into the break and return a more formidable squad, eager to maintain the momentum.”
“Great drive today @georgerussell63, really am gutted for you and the team losing the win and also our 1-2 which the team deserved,” Hamilton continued in a subsequent Instagram story post. Let’s not give up and go for a further 1-2 in the second half.”
A distraught Russell had previously written on his own Instagram account, writing: “Heartbreaking… Due to our 1.5 kg underweight result, we were eliminated from the competition.
“Today, we gave it everything we had, and I’m proud to have crossed the finish line first.
“There will be more to come.”
Due to a technical infraction, Mercedes’ boss Toto Wolff lost out on what would have been their first one-two finish since the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in November 2022. He apologized to Russell for the mistake and said they will now investigate what went wrong with his car to leave it underweight.
Although he acknowledged it was still “clearly not good enough” that Mercedes had broken the rules, trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin hinted in their post-race press release that rubber lost from Russell’s 34-lap-old tires during the Briton’s massive final stint was probably a “contributing factor” in the car failing the required post-race weight check.
“We don’t yet understand why the car was underweight following the race but will investigate thoroughly to find the explanation,” Shovlin stated.
“We anticipate that one stop’s rubber loss played a role, and we’ll investigate the circumstances behind it. But we’re not going to offer any justifications.
“It is clearly not good enough and we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Mercedes also made a lot of setup adjustments to their vehicles following a challenging Friday practice in which the W15 proved to be too slow. Saturday’s running was then wet throughout, meaning the first time the rebuilt car next raced in the dry was during the race.
Together with the rest of the grid, Hamilton’s vehicle was determined to be within the weight restriction.
The team will need to estimate the lightest the car will be during qualifying, since that is when it will be in parc ferme; for qualifying, this is simple because you estimate for a dry tire. For the race, however, we look at the end of the race, which is when the car will be the lightest because by then you should have used all of your fuel, engine oil, driver drinks, and the plank is worn—in this case, the worn tyres. We try to get an estimate for what all those numbers add up to at the end of the race and what it will be.
The strategists and tyre engineers usually work together to determine the strategy and the number of laps you intend to put on each tire. This determines the tyre wear and, ultimately, the weight of the entire car at the end of the race.
George has completed twice as many laps on that pair of tires as is reasonable in this instance. This is a far longer stint than anyone would have anticipated in terms of tyre wear rate, even if they had allowed for a one-stop or had margin in there. It seems likely that they haven’t allowed for a one-stop pitting on lap 10.
There is no in-lap in Spa. Typically, drivers attempt to take up rubber, which serves as a safety net for the weight of the automobile. That is not present in Spa. There isn’t your standard get-out clause.
Furthermore, if your tires are loaded with cargo. Although they hardly ever do, the FIA has the authority to request that an alternative pair of tires be installed on the vehicle if they believe the other set to be lighter.
Though he finished the race in Belgium with his second victory in the previous three races to continue a season that is unexpectedly gaining pace, Hamilton had earlier expressed frustration at having lost to Russell after leading the majority of the race thanks to a brilliant start from third on the grid.
Speaking right away following the race, before word leaked out of his teammate’s car’s weight issue, Hamilton charged Mercedes with misjudging his approach.
For the most part, George wasn’t really in my race, Hamilton said to Sky Sports F1.
He wouldn’t have been in my race, therefore, if the plan had been successful. Therefore, the conflict would not have occurred, but it is fantastic that there are automobiles that are competing in the end.
“It is what it is, really. I’ll proceed. I’ll head into my break and enjoy myself.
