Imagine dragging a set of hard tyres for 34 laps, keeping your 7-time world champion teammate at bay and still being denied a victory for no fault of your own. Well, this is what the Belgian GP 2024 felt like to George Russell. The British driver, running on a single pit stop strategy, was the first to complete the race before, expecting what would be his third win in Formula 1. Trailing him was his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who had Oscar Piastri catching up to him.
The Russell Disqualification
After completing the race in first place, the Technical Delegate reported that Russell's car had been found to be underweight, and the issue was raised to the stewards. The exact amount of weight that his car was low on was 1.5 kg. This led to the disqualification of number 63, leaving Russell devastated. Mercedes acknowledged the incident, calling it a "genuine error."
This was especially hard-hitting as the driver had managed on his hard compound tyres from lap 10 to 44 after his first and only pitstop to be ahead of the pack.
Action Packed Start
The start of the race saw Charles Leclerc get a launch he would like, with Hamilton gaining a place over Sergio Perez. Oscar Piastri was not far behind and had a flying George Russell on his tail. The driver who suffered a horrendous start was Lando Norris, who lost three places right at the start due to running wide and taking a dip into the gravel trap. Charles Leclerc couldn't hold the lead for a long while as Hamilton snatched it from him.
On track battle
The race saw 7 drivers leading the race throughout the course, with each team trying new strategies for their pitstops. Carlos Sainz was a surprising one in them as he managed his first set of hard tyres for 14 laps and yet managed decent lap times before his pitstop.
In the other Ferrari, Charles Leclerc battled Hamilton for a large part of the race before he attempted to undercut the Mercedes driver in his second pitstop. This did not go well for him, as he suffered a slow 3.4-second pitstop.
A key battle in the race was between the current Driver Standings leader, Max Verstappen, and his closest contender, Lando Norris. Max's strategy helped him undercut Norris in the pitstop, and he valiantly defended through the race, keeping the Briton one place behind him. This was a commendable effort, as Max had started from P11 due to his engine change penalty. The Aston Martins continued their poor form, not even running close to the top teams.
Final Positions
Hamilton was in hot pursuit of his teammate in the race's closing stages, coming into the DRS region multiple times. Those attempts were unsuccessful, though, as he finished half a second behind Russell, who would have taken his third Grand Prix to win without disqualification.
Closely following them was Piastri, who continued his consistent form with McLaren and finished third, which is now second. Charles Leclerc now completes the podium, moving up to third in the Ferrari. Max Verstappen steered his RedBull to fifth place after a P11 start and now stands fourth in the results.
While it looked like he might be able to Verstappen, Lando Norris could only finish fifth for McLaren after a day he would like to forget. The second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz too the 6th Place.
Sergio Perez had another disappointing race. He lost 5 places from his position after qualifying and finished at P7. However, he did manage to take the fastest lap point home with his switch to soft tyres in the closing stages of the race. This race finish might not go down very well for him, as his place in the Milton Keynes-based outfit is already in a tough spot.
Fernando Alonso finished P8 for Aston Martin, followed by Esteban Ocon of Alpin in P8. RB's Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10, and a point was handed to him due to Russel's disqualification.
Lance Stroll finished at P11 in the second Aston Marting, and Alex Albon finished at P12 for Williams.
Pierre Gasly couldn't score points like his teammate for Alpine anding in P13, followed by the Haas of Kevin Magnussen in 14th.
Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas ended the race in P15. Trailing him was RB's Yuki Tsunoda, who had to start the race from the back. Logan Sargeant of Williams and Haas's Nico Hulkenberg were the backmarkers of the race at P17 and P18, respectively.
Zhou Guanyu faced a hydraulic issue with his Kick Sauber and was the only retirement of the race.
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