Lewis Hamilton inherits George Russell’s F1 Belgian Grand Prix win due to DQ

George Russell was disqualified after initially winning the F1 Belgian Grand Prix, giving the victory to Lewis Hamilton.

Russell's car was underweight and an FIA investigation, after he had celebrated his win, resulted in a DQ and a late turnaround in result.

It meant Hamilton, who was originally frustrated by being on the wrong end of differing strategies from Mercedes, was announced as the winner.

Rather than going for the favoured two-stop strategy, Russell opted for a one-stop which helped propel him from sixth on the grid into the lead.

2024 F1 Belgian Grand Prix - Race Results from Round 14

Hamilton, who led the opening stages after passing Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc, could not use his much fresher tyres to overtake Russell, despite sitting within DRS range during the final few laps.

"Amazing result! Definitely didn't predict this win this morning in our strategy meeting," Russell said in parc ferme after the race. 

"The car was feeling awesome. We made a lot of changes from Friday night and the tyres felt great. I kept saying 'I think we could do a one-stop'.

"The strategy did a great job. Well done to Lewis. He really controlled that race. If the circumstances were different, I'm sure he would have got the victory. One-two for the team is an awesome."

But Russell's joy was short lived.

The new result confirmed Hamilton as the winner, and Oscar Piastri (who finished just 1.1 seconds behind Russell) second.

Polesitter Leclerc was promoted to third, ahead of Max Verstappen, who recovered from 11th on the grid to take fourth and further extend his lead in the world championship.

McLaren’s Lando Norris finished fifth after a scruffy opening lap, ahead of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari and Perez, who slipped from second to eighth ahead of a crunch meeting about his Red Bull future on Monday.

Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top-10 for Aston Martin and Alpine respectively.