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Lewis Hamilton was left with a bittersweet feeling after his teammate George Russell was disqualified from the race due to technical breach. This resulted in Hamilton inheriting the win from his teammate.
George Russell opted for the bold one stop race at Belgium GP to turn his fifth place into a victory. Russell ended up burning more fuel than expected at the Belgium GP due to a lack of safety car or Virtual Safety Car (VSC) during the span of the race. The FIA did not impose any penalties on the team as it was a genuine error by the team.
As per the internal analysis by Mercedes, the car was underweight by 1.5kg due to Russel being on tyres that were worn-out. The very tyres that earned him 1st position on track became the reason for his disqualification. 1.5kgs might sound like a lot but that means 375 grams from each tyre.
Toto Wolff appreciated George Russell’s race craft who impressed everyone on the grid with his tyre management and his ability to keep the car in control for 34 laps.
Hamilton took to social media sharing his bittersweet win, sharing his disappointment on how the silver arrows did not manage to get a 1-2 finish pre-Formula one summer break.
Hamilton also appreciated the team on the performance improvements and strategy. He shared how at the start of the weekend he did not expect the car to have pace, but the team managed to turn it around. “We take all these positives with us into the break and will come back a stronger team ready to keep the momentum going.”
Mercedes has finally started to perform well on track fighting for podium finishes, whereas Ferrari is struggling to be in the top five. Hamilton, who will be driving for Ferrari from 2025 Formula One finds himself in an unfortunate situation. With the Ferrari contract in place and the bridges burned at Mercedes, it is unlike for Hamilton to turn this around.
Formula one will return on 23rd August post summer break. During the summer break teams are not allow to making any changes to the car or work on them remotely.