Topics: Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
George Russell's win at the Belgian Grand Prix has been referred to stewards after his car was found to be underweight in post-race checks.
Russell brought home his second victory of the 2024 season at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday, with Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton finishing in second position.
But in the aftermath of Sunday's race, it emerged that Russell’s win was in jeopardy after his car was found to be below the minimum weight.
In a brief document, the FIA noted after the race that car number 63 was weighed at 798.0 kg, which is the minimum weight required by TR Article 4.1.
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After being weighed, fuel was drained out of the car and 2.8 litres of fuel was removed.
"The car was not fully drained according to the draining procedure submitted by the team in their legality documents as TR Article 6.5.2 is fulfilled," the statement added.
“The car was weighed again on the FIA inside and outside scales and the weight was 796.5 kg. The calibration of the outside and inside scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor.
“As this is 1.5 kg below the minimum weight requested in TR Article 4.1, which also has to be respected at all times during the Competition, I am referring this matter to the Stewards for their consideration.”
As mentioned above, all cars are required to be at the minimum weight limit after races.
Hamilton, who appeared to express his frustration at Mercedes' two-stop strategy in the cooldown room following Sunday's result, could secure a win at the BGP if Russell is disqualified.
The news came just minutes after Russell posted about his victory on X, formerly Twitter.
He wrote: "P1!!! From P6 to the top step, what an incredible feeling! Running the hard tyres for 34 laps was a risk but it paid off.
"Heading into the break with a 1-2 shows all the hard work is paying off. We always believed and will never stop. Let’s go team!!!"
In regards to Hamilton's two-stop strategy, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff explained why they had no choice but to pit the seven-time world champion.
“I’d like to have two winners today,” he said. “But we had to cover Leclerc and Norris because we would’ve been undercut, so that was the call. George had nothing to lose. We were P5.
“The one-stop and the two-stops were showing P5 so we just kept him out. He was very good. Lewis was very good.
“The strategy played for George, and not for Lewis. I’d like to have two winners today.”
“We didn’t think it was possible,” he added. “But, at a certain stage, we said ‘let’s stay out’ because we would have finished fifth anyway, in both scenarios. He made it last.”
