George Russell has spoken out after being disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix, giving Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton an unexpected win.
Russell thought he has sealed victory after pulling off a one-stop strategy at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and holding off Hamilton in the closing stages.
The 26-year-old celebrated the win on the podium before news began to filter out that he could face disqualification for an underweight car.
The car was found to be 1.5kg underweight, with Mercedes admitting to a ‘genuine error’ before organisers confirmed it had resulted in Russell’s disqualification.
As a result, Hamilton was promoted to first place, Oscar Piastri to second and Charles Leclerc entered the podium places after initially finishing fourth.
‘Heartbreaking… We came in 1.5kg underweight and have been disqualified from the race,’ Russell said on Instagram.
‘We left it all on the track today and I take pride in crossing the line first. There will be more to come.’
Mercedes Team Principle Toto Wolff added: ‘We have to take this on the chin. We have made a mistake and need to make sure we learn from it.
‘We will go away, evaluate what happened and understand where we went wrong.
‘To lose a 1-2 is frustrating and we can only apologise to George, who drove such a strong race for us.’
Asked if he felt sorry for Russell, Leclerc said: ‘Of course.
‘It’s not the difference in weight that made him win, they won because they were the stronger team today.
‘But with these things it’s difficult to do an exception and it’s understandably that they got disqualified.
‘But it’s unfortunate because he did an amazing job. It’s part of racing.’
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