F1 News

Hamilton reacts after disqualifying Russell

Hamilton after Russell's disqualification: 'I feel sorry for George'

28 July at 19:48
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  • Estéban den Toom

George Russell's disqualification after the Belgian Grand Prix made Lewis Hamilton the new winner of the race in the Belgian Ardennes. Russell's W15 was found to be too light the after the race. Formula 1 cars must be at least 798.0 kg after the race, but Russell's was 796.5 kg. Hamilton reacts after he was promoted to P1 at Spa.

Aside from losing 18 points in the constructors' championship, Hamilton does see areas for improvement. "It is of course disappointing for the team to lose the 1-2 but there are lots of positives to take away from today," Hamilton began, after being told he did not finish second, but first at Spa-Francorchamps.

Hamilton 'feels sorry' for his teammate

"The car was feeling good, and we had much better pace than we expected. There were several cars that seemed similar in terms of performance but once we had got ahead, we were able to maintain that position. We committed to the two-stop strategy and covered those directly behind us. George was able to make the one-stop work and, although I got close to him in the final few laps, I was unable to get past in the dirty air."

"I feel for George, and you don't want to win a race through a disqualification, but we have been back in the fight for victories in the past few races. It is incredibly competitive now, so we will need to work hard to battle for wins more consistently. Nevertheless, we can go into the summer break with momentum and positivity," concluded the seven-time world champion.