George Russell described his disqualification from the Belgian Grand Prix as “heartbreaking” after seeing victory taken away from him after the race.
Mercedes initially secured a 1-2 with Russell pulling off an audacious one-stop technique to beat Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri in an exhilarating end. Publish-race scrutineering then discovered Russell’s automotive to be 1.5 kg underweight and, as that may be a technical infringement, it mechanically results in a disqualification from the outcomes.
“Heartbreaking…” Russell stated. “We got here in 1.5 kg underweight and have been disqualified from the race. We left all of it on the monitor in the present day and I take satisfaction in crossing the road first. There will likely be extra to come back.”
Talking earlier than he was disqualified, Russell stated the choice to one-stop was a spontaneous one which had not been thought of forward of the race.
“We spoke a lot this morning in regards to the two-stop, the three-stop, however instantly the tires, the automotive felt actually, actually good. I bought into this groove, and particularly once I bought into the lead, there have been no again markers in entrance, no different automobiles in entrance — it form of felt like driving a simulator. It was fairly bizarre.
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“I used to be trying on the hole to Lewis and the speed he was catching me, and I simply thought there’s no purpose why we are able to’t keep out right here and do that one cease and attempt to make it work.”
Russell’s disqualification is the primary time a driver has misplaced a victory for a technical infringement after the race since Michael Schumacher at Spa-Francorchamps 30 years in the past, and is one the crew didn’t dispute.
“Now we have to take our disqualification on the chin,” crew principal Toto Wolff stated. “Now we have clearly made a mistake and want to make sure we study from it. We are going to go away, consider what occurred and perceive what went fallacious. To lose a 1-2 is irritating and we are able to solely apologize to George who drove such a powerful race.
“Lewis is after all promoted to P1; he was the quickest man on the two-stop and is a deserving winner.”
