MOTORSPORT: Hamilton claims dramatic Belgian GP

Lewis Hamilton has claimed victory in a remarkable Belgium Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps after Mercedes teammate George Russell was stripped of the win for failing a post-race weight check.

Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri backed up his maiden victory from last weekend with a flying finish aboard his McLaren to seal second, with an extra lap all that was needed to add to his win tally.

The race proved to be a fascinating tactical battle – Russell utilised a single-stop strategy and extreme tyre-saving to set up a grandstand finish, with the top three provisionally covered by only 1.173 seconds at the chequered flag.

Speaking prior to Russell’s disqualification, Piastri thought he could catch the Mercedes pair, with strong mid-race pace in clear air an advantage for the Aussie.

“It’s been a really good couple of weeks for myself and the whole team of course – a lot of points,” he said.

“We still made inroads on Red Bull today and that’s a really positive thing going into the break.

“I think everyone’s looking forward to a bit of a break – I know I am, so I can heal up a little bit – but it’s been a fun couple of weeks, and [I’m] looking forward to some time relaxing and coming back stronger in the second half.”

From pole position, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) jumped into the lead from Hamilton, who outran Sergio Perez (Red Bull) into the first corner.

From the McLaren camp, Piastri settled into fourth, while Lando Norris dropped three positions to place seventh after running wide at the opening hairpin.

After taking on an additional internal combustion engine outside of his season allocation, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) took a 10-place grid penalty, which saw his provisional pole converted to 11th for the start.

However, the Dutchman swiftly cracked the top 10 on the opening lap.

On lap 3 of 44, Hamilton blasted past Leclerc to gain the ascendency, while Russell was one of the first to pit on lap 11, which triggered a glut of stops.

Mixed strategies then genuinely made the race difficult to read, with Piastri charging hard and moving past both Russell and Perez.

Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) was one of the last cars to persist with hard tyres and ran wide through a gravel trap on lap 17, while four laps later Russell swept past Perez for fourth on the road.

Hamilton blinked first on lap 27 to take his second service, while Norris displaced Perez on lap 31 for sixth.

Piastri then produced the move of the race, taking Leclerc around the outside of Les Combes for third position on lap 36, and set sail for the two leading Mercedes cars of Russell and Hamilton.

The race came down to a last-lap battle between the top three, with nothing separating the trio at the finish.

However, post-race checks revealed that Russell’s car was 1.5kg underweight, which resulted in his removal from the results.

Hamilton subsequently gained his second victory of the season – and 105th overall – from Piastri and Leclerc.

Verstappen had to settle for fourth at the chequered flag, unable to repeat his come-from-behind victories at Spa from recent visits.

Norris was fifth from Sainz, Perez, Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Daniel Ricciardo (RB), who is now in a fascinating mix with Liam Lawson and Perez to see who lines up for the Red Bull and RB squads for the remainder of the season.

In the point scores, Ferrari became the first constructor to reach 10,000 points earned since Monaco 1950, while in the driver standings Verstappen and Norris are now equal on points up front ahead of Leclerc, while Piastri has jumped past Sainz to place fourth after 14 of 24 races.

Formula 1 now heads to its mid-season break and will return on August 25 with the Dutch Grand Prix from Zandvoort.

2024 Belgium Grand Prix results:

2024 Formula 1 championship standings:

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