Lewis Hamilton benefits as heartbroken George Russell is disqualified in Belgium

Lewis Hamilton was handed one of the most dramatic victories of his life on Sunday night after a “heartbroken” George Russell was disqualified for running an illegal car at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Russell appeared to have taken just his third career victory following a fascinating race where the young Briton rolled the strategy dice to beat Hamilton by just 0.5 seconds.

But two-and-a-half hours after the chequered flag fell at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, and with both Hamilton and Russell already heading back home to Monaco, the latter was thrown out of the official result because his Mercedes was found to be 1.5 kilograms underweight.

The stewards’ decision provided Hamilton with the second win from his last three appearances but denied the Silver Arrows their first one-two finish since the penultimate round of the 2022 season in Brazil.

“We have to take it on the chin,” said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. “We have clearly made a mistake and need to ensure we learn from it.

“It is a massive blow for George to have it taken away. He is going to win more. We can only apologise to him because he drove such a strong race.”

Russell, still dressed in his Mercedes overalls, had just completed his media rounds – where he had lauded his display as the best of his career – when he was told his triumph was in grave danger.

A report from the FIA’s technical delegate Jo Bauer, published at 5:50pm local time, spelt doom for the Englishman.

Ron Meadows, the team’s sporting director, was summoned to the stewards at 6:10pm only for Russell’s fate to be officially sealed just 45 minutes later.

A statement from the FIA said Mercedes “acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team”.

“Heartbreaking,” said Russell on X. “We left it all on the track today and I take pride in crossing the line first. There will be more to come.”

Russell’s disqualification marked the second time in less than a year that a Mercedes has been denied a result. At the US Grand Prix last October, Hamilton was stripped of second place after the floor of his Mercedes broke the rules.

But in the Ardennes it was the 39-year-old who benefitted from Russell’s demise. For long periods of a gripping race, it looked as though Hamilton would take the chequered flag anyway.

Starting from third place, the seven-time world champion roared ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez heading into La Source and then slipstreamed past leader Charles Leclerc along the Kemmel Straight on lap three.

From there, Hamilton looked in control. That was until Russell, who started sixth, outfoxed his rivals with a one-stop strategy. Hamilton peeled into the pits on lap 26 of 44 for his second change of rubber.

But Russell did what no other driver dared and implored his team to consider keeping him out. And so they did. With a dozen laps remaining, Russell, on old tyres, held a seven-second advantage over a freshly-shod Hamilton.

“Am I on target to beat him?” Hamilton asked. “It will be close,” came race engineer Peter Bonnington’s not-so-convincing reply.

With four laps remaining, Hamilton was in Russell’s mirrors and it seemed inevitable that he would zoom past. But Russell held firm and Hamilton never got close enough to threaten.

Russell crossed the line half-a-second ahead of a crestfallen Hamilton, who accused his team of bringing him in for a second stop when he told them he still had life in his rubber.

However, the 39-year-old conceded he didn’t demand Mercedes put him on a one-stop strategy. Russell did and he celebrated wildly with Wolff lauding his man as the “tyre whisperer”.

“When you feel something in your gut, you have to go with it,” explained Russell before he was stripped of his win.

“But when every single driver is pitting, and after all the data suggested a one-stop was not even close to being viable, you do think, ‘are we missing something here?’ Like, why isn’t anybody else doing this?”

While Russell’s celebrations would prove to be in vein, Hamilton’s promotion marked a resurgent Mercedes’ third win in four races.

“Lewis was the fastest guy on the two-stop and he is a deserving winner,” added Wolff. “Despite the disqualification there are many positives we can take from the weekend.

“We had a car that was the benchmark across two different strategies. Only a few months ago, that would have been inconceivable.”

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took second, with pole man Leclerc third. Max Verstappen started 11th following an engine penalty, but ended up in fourth, one place clear of Lando Norris, to extend his championship lead over the British driver from 76 points to 78 ahead of the sport’s four-week summer shutdown.