George Russell ran the full gamut of emotion from euphoria to heartbreak in what must have been the most painful race of his career. The British driver had won the Belgian Grand Prix only to have the victory whisked away two hours later when his Mercedes was discovered to have been underweight. The sport reminded all that it could be unpredictable, beguiling and then brutally cruel in one fell swoop, as his disqualification meant victory was passed to his team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
As the slings and arrows go, even fortune herself might feel this went beyond the outrageous. Yet there can be no argument; as Mercedes acknowledged, they had failed within a part of the regulations where there is simply no grey area.
After Russell took what had been a remarkable win at Spa, making a one-stop strategy work against the odds, beating Hamilton into second, the sport’s governing body, the FIA, went about its usual business of inspecting his car, weighed it and found it underweight by 1.5kg of the regulated 798kg.
Mercedes were summoned to the stewards to make their case but it was dismissed, the minimum weight limit stipulated to ensure there is a level playing field for all the cars, with it being clear that a lighter car would enjoy a pace advantage. Russell’s disqualification was all but a formality after an error the team held their hands up to.
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Russell described it as heartbreaking, a far cry from his earlier media activities where he had beamed his way through, eyes alight, revelling in what had been such an unlikely win. Perhaps it had felt almost unbelievable, as it was painfully to prove. A brief, intoxicating mirage.
Hamilton, in turn, had been disappointed to claim only second, having been in control for much of the race at the front and convinced that he too could have tried the one-stop strategy that put his team-mate on top, but this is not how he would have wanted to secure the 105th win of his career.
Russell has suffered before. At the Sakhir Grand Prix in 2020, when given a chance because Hamilton had Covid, he was on for a win on his Mercedes debut only for a puncture and a team pit stop error to scupper his chances. He was left in tears but this was an altogether different scale of anguish, having done so much for his bold choice to pay off only for the result to be out of his hands.
It was all the more cruel given this had been the best win of his career and one that demonstrated that for all that engineering excellence matters – for the mechanical minutiae, the attention to detail – what still makes the difference is what the driver with their hands on the wheel feels.
In what was expected to be a nailed-on two-stopper that Hamilton was comfortably leading, Russell appeared to be all but a bit-part player. Yet that he had started in sixth place, out of the leaders’ fight, favoured him.
When Mercedes chose to pit Hamilton for his second stop on lap 26, they did so to cover off Charles Leclerc’s stop. The very same lap Russell told his team he believed he could make a one-stop work and the team felt they had nothing to lose in giving him a shot.
The 26-year-old had taken his first stop on lap 10 so would have to make his tyres last 34 laps, no mean feat, but it proved inspired and Russell’s judgment and ability to coax his rubber to the finish was outstanding, such that the team principal, Toto Wolff, hailed him as the “tyre whisperer”.
Russell duly found himself with track position over Hamilton in the final stages as Mercedes, to their credit, let their drivers race. For the final four laps the team-mates were one second apart, with Hamilton marginally quicker on fresher rubber. Russell defended stoutly with an iron nerve as Hamilton crawled all over his gearbox to no avail and was beaten by just half a second.
The celebrations began at Mercedes, to the point that the team were preparing for the usual victory photo with the trophies outside their garage when the FIA announced the weight discrepancy. The trophies were quietly returned to the garage and the photo cancelled.
It was a wretched end to what had been a magnificent race and a blow from which Russell must now recover. He will emerge perhaps stronger, scant solace now for the thunderous ache of disappointment that accompanies him into the summer break. In the background of all of which drama, Max Verstappen went solidly about his business of holding his lead in the title fight.
After starting from 11th, the world champion came back to claim fifth, then upgraded to fourth, one place in front of his championship rival Lando Norris and enough to extend his lead to 78 points.
For Verstappen it was as much as he expected in what he had called damage limitation but a downbeat Norris was clearly disappointed, if not feeling quite the same hurt as Russell.
He had lost three places at the start putting a wheel wide exciting La Source on the opening lap and it was hugely costly.
He and McLaren need better if he is to take the fight to Verstappen when racing resumes at Zandvoort next month.
After the disqualification, Oscar Piastri was second for McLaren, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz third and sixth for Ferrari. Sergio Pérez was seventh for Red Bull, Fernando Alonso eighth for Aston Martin, Esteban Ocon ninth for Alpine and Daniel Ricciardo 10th for RB. – Guardian
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