2024 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix Highlights

 

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

 

George Russell led home a one-two finish at the 2024 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix before being disqualified post-race with his car below the minimum weight required. Lewis Hamilton, therefore, inherited the win, his 105th in his career and his second of the season.

Starting P3 and P6 on the Medium tyre, both drivers progressed in the early stages, with Lewis claiming the lead on lap 3. He ran a two-stop strategy from there, taking the Hard compound at both stops as he maintained his advantage over his fellow two-stoppers. George, meanwhile, having stopped for the Hard tyre on lap nine, ultimately shifted to the one-stop strategy. This proved effective, and despite coming under pressure in the closing stages from Lewis, he held on to cross the line in first.

Unfortunately, post-race checks found George’s car 1.5 kg below the minimum required weight. He was, therefore, disqualified, with Lewis promoted to first. Lewis claimed the team’s third victory in the last four races.

George Russell

It is heartbreaking to be disqualified from today’s race. It had been an unbelievable Grand Prix for us to make the one-stop strategy work. In what turned out to be my final stint, the tyres just kept getting better and better. I was nursing them in the early stages, and as we went further, I became more and more convinced we could get to the end of them. It was a risk worth taking, and it looked like it had paid off.

Despite the disqualification, I am, of course, proud to have crossed the line first. It is also good that the team was still able to take the victory with Lewis. He drove a great race and was the fastest car out there on the two-stop strategy. Whilst I’m incredibly disappointed, I know we will bounce back stronger after the summer break, starting in Zandvoort.

Lewis Hamilton

Of course, the team’s loss of 1-2 is disappointing, but there are many positives to take away from today.

The car was feeling good, and we had a much better pace than we expected. Several cars seemed similar in terms of performance, but once we had got ahead, we were able to maintain that position. We committed to the two-stop strategy and covered those directly behind us. George was able to make the one-stop work, and although I got close to him in the final few laps, I was unable to get past in the dirty air.

I feel for George, and you don’t want to win a race through a disqualification, but we have been back in the fight for victories in the past few races. It is incredibly competitive now, so we will need to work hard to battle for wins more consistently. Nevertheless, we can go into the summer break with momentum and positivity.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

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 the shutdown is rejuvenated and with the aim of maintaining our positive trajectory.




There are no comments

Add yours