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George Russell described his disqualification from the Belgian Grand Prix as “heartbreaking” after seeing victory taken away from him after the race. Mercedes originally secured a 1-2 with Russell …
George Russell described his disqualification from the Belgian Grand Prix as “heartbreaking” after Mercedes originally secured a 1-2 victory with Russell’s audacious one-stop strategy defeating Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri. Post-race scrutineering revealed Russell’s car was 1.5 kg underweight, resulting in automatic disqualification. Russell expressed pride in his performance, emphasizing that they “left it all on the track” and vowed that there will be more to come. Even before the disqualification, Russell discussed the spontaneous decision to one-stop, highlighting the unusual feeling of driving in the lead with no immediate challengers. This disqualification marks the first time a driver has lost a victory for a technical infringement after the race in 30 years, with Mercedes accepting the mistake and expressing apologies to Russell, while acknowledging Lewis Hamilton’s promotion to P1 as a deserving winner of the race.