Christian Horner labels George Russell’s DSQ 'a mistake in Mercedes' calculations'

Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes George Russell’s disqualification at the F1 Belgian Grand Prix was down to a mistake in Mercedes’ “calculations”.

Russell was excluded from the race results at Spa-Francorchamps as his Mercedes F1 car was 1.5kg underweight.

This became apparent during the FIA’s post-race checks.

It’s been suggested that Russell’s inspired one-stop strategy at the Belgian GP played a part.

This theory was also put forward by Horner, who gave his reaction to the news to Sky Sports News.

“Yes absolutely. I am sure you’d have lost well over a kilo of rubber,” he said. “We saw that Friday.

“You have to carry enough fuel to be able to do the sample. Otherwise you’re using fuel as ballast.

“Really sad news for George but obviously a mistake in their calculations.”

Russell’s disqualification promoted Charles Leclerc into third - his first podium since Monaco.

Giving his view on the situation, Leclerc said: “Nobody wants to do a podium with the disqualification of one of your colleagues.

“They had done an incredible job today. It’s not the difference of weight that there was that made him way. They won it because they were the stronger team today. 

“However, on this kind of thing, it’s difficult to do an exception and it’s understandable they got disqualified.

“It’s unfortunate because he did an amazing job as well as Mercedes. It’s part of racing.”