PARIS, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Mercedes' George Russell has been disqualified from Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix after his car was found to be underweight, handing teammate Lewis Hamilton the race win.
Russell had crossed the line first after a brilliant drive in which he endured one set of Hard tyres for 32 laps, abandoning plans for a second pit stop to hold off Hamilton and the chasing pack to take the win.
However, Russell's joy turned to anguish when post-race scrutineering revealed that his Mercedes F1 W15 was 1.5kg under the permitted minimum weight limit of 798kg once drained of fuel.
Russell's disqualification promotes second-placed Hamilton to the race win, with Oscar Piastri moving up to second place, and Charles Leclerc rounding out the top three in Spa-Francorchamps.
Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon all move up one position, with RB's Daniel Ricciardo now scoring points in tenth place.
This is the first time the winner of an F1 Grand Prix has been disqualified since 1994, when Michael Schumacher was removed from the results of that year's Belgian Grand Prix due to excess wear to his Benetton's plank. ■