George Russell DQ at Belgian GP “a mess up”, not “a conspiracy”

George Russell’s disqualification after initially winning the F1 Belgian Grand Prix was correct, and was not “a conspiracy”, says Ted Kravitz.

Mercedes’ Russell beat teammate Lewis Hamilton over the chequered line at Spa but, after his celebrations for winning the race, a dreaded note from the FIA dropped.

Russell’s car was underweight and he was later disqualified, as a result, handing victory to Hamilton.

“If we find out that Russell did not do enough lifting and coasting, as clearly Hamilton was doing early on, because we heard the radio messages, and Russell was racing with a lighter car then that’s it… disqualified,” Kravitz reported for Sky Sports outside the FIA investigation, before their judgement came in.

Kravitz defended the stewards’ call: “In a way, to keep the sporting credibility of Formula 1, they’ve got to disqualify George.

“Because, if you’re Lewis, you think ‘hang on, I’m trying to close in on this guy but he’s got a lighter car that I have’.

“Alright it’s only half a kilo or whatever. But it’s not fair.”

Kravitz said about the reasons behind the DQ: “Nobody is suggesting, I am not suggesting, that Mercedes have done a trick here.

“This was a **** up, a mess up, it is not a conspiracy.

“Either George hasn’t done enough lifting and coasting, or they haven’t put enough fuel in, or it’s a weird software thing where they’ve used more fuel than they thought.

“But, I am sorry, if you finish the race and your car is 1.5kg under, even with a big, sizable fuel sample, then you will be disqualified.

“To maintain the sporting integrity of Formula 1, you have to put your hands up and say it was a mistake.

“It’s a shame.”

Russell’s car was at the 798kg minimum weight limit when it was first weighed. But, after 2.8 litres of fuel was drained, it was below the limit.

That handed a belated victory to Hamilton, who was originally left annoyed by a different tyre strategy to Russell, which he thought had cost him the win.