2024 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix Highlights

Lewis Hamilton won the 2024 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix after teammate George Russell, who had originally come home first, was disqualified following the race for an underweight car.

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The Mercedes duo had engaged in a thrilling late chase, with two-stopper Hamilton charging down his one-stopping teammate, but he was unable to pass on track for the victory, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finishing third.

However, following the conclusion of the Grand Prix, a Technical Delegate’s Report stated that Russell’s car had been found to be underweight, and the matter was referred to the stewards. The Briton was subsequently disqualified from the results, and Mercedes acknowledged a “genuine error” by the team.

In terms of the on-track action, Charles Leclerc made a good start from pole position to initially lead before being overtaken by Hamilton within two laps. From there, the seven-time world champion looked strong at a track where he had been victorious on four prior occasions.

While most of the field opted for a two-stop race, Russell took a gamble by making just one visit to the pits on Lap 10 of 44. This meant that he was attempting to nurse his ageing hard tyres as the Grand Prix entered its final stages.

Hamilton had closed right onto the back of his teammate in the last laps and, despite getting agonisingly close, the Briton was unable to find a way past Russell, who crossed the line just half a second ahead for what would have been his third Grand Prix win without his disqualification.

Behind the Mercedes pair, Piastri worked his way forward to claim third for McLaren, which is now second, while Charles Leclerc will move up to third in the Ferrari. Max Verstappen bounced back from his P11 start to put his Red Bull into fifth place on the road, and it is now fourth in the results.

Despite getting close to Verstappen, Lando Norris had to settle for fifth on what looked to be a tough day at times for the McLaren man, and his former teammate Carlos Sainz claimed sixth behind Ferrari.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez ended the day down in P7, having been overtaken by Sainz in the latter stages amid continuing pressure around the Mexican’s place in the team.

Fernando Alonso took eighth for Aston Martin, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo rounding out the top 10.

Lance Stroll followed in the Aston Martin in P11, and Alex Albon took for Williams.

Pierre Gasly was 13th for Alpine on a weekend where Bruno Famin’s departure as Team Principal was announced, while Kevin Magnussen in the Haas crossed the line in 14th.

There were again no points for Kick Sauber, with Valtteri Bottas ending the race in P15, ahead of RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, the Williams of Logan Sargeant and Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg bringing up the rear in P18.

Zhou Guanyu was the only retirement of the day, having suffered a hydraulic issue with his Kick Sauber.

Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:

First of all, this was a fascinating race. It’s been quite a while since Formula 1 has put on such a show. It’s unusual to see a race where the outcome is so uncertain, with the top three within just over a second of one another and the first six finishers, all of whom could legitimately claim to have aimed for the win or at least the podium, all finishing within under 10 seconds. It’s a shame the race result had to be changed, but as even Mercedes agreed, the rule regarding weight is very clear.

The second topic is strategy. Going into the race, we stated that a one-stop was not fast enough compared to a two-stop, but leaving aside Russell’s disqualification, his performance would disprove that theory. Some factors stand out for a preliminary explanation, at least in terms of tyre behaviour. First of all, today’s track temperature was around 10 degrees higher than during FP2, which probably contributed to minimal graining on the Hard, which, on the other hand, was very significant on the Mediums on a long stint. Furthermore, we can assume that the teams worked hard on defining car set-up to find the best compromise between a wet qualifying and a dry race and to try and protect the front axle, which was most prone to graining. A third element to consider is that many drivers looked after their Mediums very carefully, especially in the quickest corners.

Two-thirds of the race were fascinating chess games, with moves and countermoves, especially among the leaders. Still, further down the field, it all came to life over the final 15 laps, with all the drivers beginning to push and fight for track position. As I said earlier, it was a show that means we go into the summer break with a strong desire to see something similar in a few weeks’ time in Zandvoort and, indeed, for the rest of the season.

The day on the track:

On the grid, the vast majority of drivers had opted to start on Medium. The only exceptions were Sainz and Zhou, who chose Hard, and Ricciardo, who preferred Soft.

The two-stop strategy was the most popular strategy, while the Hard compound performed best, both in terms of degradation and performance. Zhou was the only driver to retire, and of the remaining 19, five of them—in their finishing order –Russell, Alonso, Stroll, Magnussen, and Tsunoda—only pitted once, going from the Medium to the Hard, with the first two of these finishing in the points places, respectively first and ninth.

The prize for the longest stint goes to Russell who did 34 laps on the Hard, while on his final stint, Hulkenberg went furthest (24 laps) on the Medium.

2024 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix Race Results

2024 Constructor Standings

Here are the team-by-team highlights:

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