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Mercedes Formula 1 driver George Russell has lost his Belgian Grand Prix win after his car was found to be underweight during post-race checks.
Russell drove a spectacular one-stop race to hold off team-mate Lewis Hamilton at the finish, having converted sixth place on the grid into an on-the-road win.
But it emerged quickly after the race that Russell's W15 had not passed post-race scrutineering.
As detailed by the FIA technical delegate, Russell's Mercedes was initially weighed in at 798kg - which is exactly the weight limit.
However, it is the weight limit for the car without fuel on board - and after a requisite 2.8 litres of fuel were extracted from the car for required post-race checks for compliance, the W15 subsequently weighed in at 796.5kg, considerably below the weight limit.
Russell's car was therefore declared in breach of article 4.1 of the technical regulations.
"The calibration of the outside and inside scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor," the report wrote.
The finding was forwarded to the stewards, who subsequently disqualified Russell from the race result - the standard penalty for such an infringement.
The stewards said in their decision that Mercedes had confirmed the measurements were correct, while also acknowledging "that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team".
![](https://www.the-race.com/content/images/2024/07/XPB_1298970_HiRes.jpg)
Speaking before Russell's disqualification had been announced, team principal Toto Wolff said Mercedes would have to take such an outcome "on the chin".
"A mistake has happened or could've happened," said Wolff.
He declined to comment on what might have contributed to Russell's car coming in under weight but, asked by The Race whether it could've incurred any damage, Wolff said: "No, I think it's a one-stop that you expect lots of rubber, maybe more [to fall off the tyres].
"But there's no excuse. If the stewards deem it to be a breach of regulations, then it is what it is, we have to learn from that."
![](https://www.the-race.com/content/images/2024/07/XPB_1299057_HiRes.jpg)
Russell's exclusion handed victory to his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, as well as promoting Oscar Piastri second and elevating Charles Leclerc onto the podium.
"The positives, the very [big] positives that we can take from this race is we had two cars that were the benchmark in this race with two different strategies," said Wolff.
"Who would've said that a few months ago? And that is really good to see."
He added: "Obviously for George, that's a massive blow - a driver, all his childhood dreams of winning these races, and then it's been probably taken away. But he's going to win many more."
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