George Russell has been disqualified from the results of today's Belgian Grand Prix.

The stewards heard from a Mercedes team representative, the FIA Technical Delegate, the FIA Single Seater Director and the FIA Single Seater Technical Director.

Russell's car was weighed on the FIA inside and outside scales with both showing the same result of 796.5 kg.

The calibration of both scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor.

During the hearing the team representative confirmed that the measurement is correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly. The team also acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team.

The stewards therefore determined that Article 4.1 of the FIA Formula 1 Technical Regulations has been breached and therefore the standard penalty for such an infringement had to be applied and as a result Russell is excluded from the results and therefore victory goes to his teammate, Lewis Hamilton.

Competitors have the right to appeal certain decisions of the stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Chapter 4 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.

Check out our Sunday gallery from Spa here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by ffracer, 30/07/2024 14:46

"Totally agree Celtic Tiger: I thought exactly the same thing when I saw his sullen face and deduced that someone's engine or gearbox was about to give up the ghost ( Sky mentioned that the factory Mercedes were dumping oil in the warmup). Also, Horner's comment is telling ( another example how thorough RB is ... on a good day and how Horner
doesn't miss an opportunity to humiliate Wolff lolol) as 1.5 kg or 3 lbs of marbles is very easy to pick up on a proper cool down lap, MB didn't account for the Spa short 'cool down straight' until possibly the FIA stewards reminded MB of the Spa finishing procedure ... for 3 flipping lbs. Harsh lesson learned."

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2. Posted by Spindoctor, 29/07/2024 12:23

"Certainly a cock-up. Perhaps that's the reason for most teams opting for a two-stopper? Both drivers wanted to keep going, but Russel got the go-ahead to stay out, & maybe with slightly better tyre management & an in-lap he would have done it..."

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3. Posted by Schrodinger's cat, 29/07/2024 1:52

"I can only wonder if the lack of an in lap, picking up lots of discarded tyre debris, is the actual cause of the problem. If so, at any other track, Russell's car wouldn't have been underweight.

That's not an excuse, but once again shows that F1 has lots of very technical rules, and it's easy to fall foul of one, if you're not careful."

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4. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 28/07/2024 21:09

"Tough luck for Russell, he drove a smart race.
The quick shot of Wolff sitting in the garage with a pensive look, rather than the hand clasping/back pats and smiles that would naturally come with a team one-two could be taken that he knew this might crop up. I thought it was weird he was just sitting there like that as Russell was driving down pit lane."

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5. Posted by Jet Jockey, 28/07/2024 20:52

"Perhaps they changed their minds about a two stop strategy during the race and did not take into account the extra wear on the tires by only one stop… Horner claims that during the Friday practices they had calculated that a one stop would cause over an extra kilo in tire wear… Too bad for George and Mercedes but that is a team miscalculation and they paid for it by being disqualified… it is not the first time a winner of a race was disqualified for being under weight."

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6. Posted by Wokingchap, 28/07/2024 19:47

"Correction......tyres worn off 1.5kgs too much, such a shame. Team hadn't worked that out had they?"

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7. Posted by Wokingchap, 28/07/2024 19:39

"Can't understand how they can make such a stupid/basic mistake."

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Russell disqualified

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