SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (AP) — Lewis Hamilton was promoted to first place on the Belgian Grand Prix after race officers disqualified his Mercedes teammate George Russell for driving an underweight automotive on Sunday.
Russell crossed the road first after making just one pit cease, ending simply forward of Hamilton. He celebrated the win in Spa, which might have been the third of the British driver’s profession.
However race officers discovered that his automotive weighed in beneath the established limits and dominated to disqualify his end result.
“It’s heartbreaking to be disqualified from as we speak’s race. It had been an unbelievable grand prix for us to make the one-stop technique work,” Russell stated. “Regardless of the disqualification, I’m after all proud to have crossed the road first. Additionally it is good that the staff was nonetheless in a position to take the victory with Lewis.”
Hamilton took his document haul to 105 F1 profession victories for the previous seven-time world champion. He has now received two of the final three races after his triumph at Silverstone earlier this month ended a wait of almost 1,000 days with out a win courting again to the penultimate race of 2021. His resurgence comes after he determined to affix Ferrari subsequent season and put an finish to his 12 years with Mercedes.
“I really feel for George, and also you don’t wish to win a race by means of a disqualification, however we now have been again within the struggle for victories prior to now few races,” Hamilton stated. “It’s extremely aggressive now.”
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri moved up into second place, whereas pole-sitter Charles Leclerc of Ferrari accomplished the rostrum.
Factors chief Max Verstappen was fourth after the three-time defending champion began from eleventh following a 10-place grid penalty for utilizing one too many engines in his Purple Bull.
Lando Norris endured one other poor begin in his McLaren and was fifth, permitting Verstappen to increase his championship result in 78 factors.
“All in all it was fairly a constructive day for me, contemplating we began at P11, and we completed in entrance of Lando, who’s my principal rival within the championship,” Verstappen stated.
Russell’s disqualification ruined what had been deemed a masterclass in tire administration by the 26-year-old driver who began from sixth. He solely boxed as soon as whereas the opposite prime drivers all stopped twice over the 44-lap race.
His solely cease got here on lap 10, so Russell stayed out for 34 laps on the identical tires and fended off Hamilton who had spent 18 laps on his final set.
After Russell shouted for pleasure after the checkered flag, his staff radio half-jokingly praised him as “the tire whisperer.”
However that was all for naught.
“We’ve got to take our disqualification on the chin,” Mercedes staff principal Toto Wolff stated
“We’ve got clearly made a mistake and wish to make sure we be taught from it… To lose a 1-2 is irritating and we are able to solely apologize to George who drove such a powerful race.”
After struggling early on this season, Mercedes has now received three of the final 4 races. Russell triumphed in Austria and Hamilton in Britain.
With McLaren, Mercedes, Purple Bull and Ferrari all producing related tempo – and avoiding race-ending crashes — the victory was a query of small margins and getting the pit-stop and tire technique proper. The highest six all crossed inside 10 seconds.
The seven winners in 13 races after the Hungarian GP had already made this season probably the most aggressive since 2012.
Verstappen has now gone 4 races with out a win after he received 4 of the primary 5 grands prix this 12 months.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was sixth, forward of Purple Bull’s Sergio Pérez, who had began second in one other poor displaying for the under-pressure Mexican driver. Fernando Alonso was eighth for Aston Martin, and Esteban Ocon in his Alpine and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo closed out the factors.
The Spa observe, set within the rolling forests of the Ardennes, is the longest in F1 at seven kilometers (4.3 miles). It stayed dry on Sunday in distinction to the fixed drizzle the day earlier than that led to a F2 race being postponed.
With 14 of 24 races down, the season now enters a summer time break till the Dutch GP on Aug. 25.
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AP auto racing:
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