CHRISTIAN HORNER POINTS OUT MERCEDES 'MISTAKE' AFTER GEORGE RUSSELL DISQUALIFICATION

Christian Horner reacts to George Russell's disqualification from the Belgian GP.

George Russell’s second win of the 2024 season has been taken away, with the Mercedes driver disqualified for returning an underweight car to parc fermé.

Russell’s disqualification has bumped both Red Bull drivers up in the points standings — and Christian Horner, Red Bull team boss, offered his perspective on Mercedes’ crucial mistake at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Christian Horner: Mercedes made ‘a mistake in their calculations’

George Russell has spent years trying to turn a one-stop strategy into a Grand Prix win, and it appeared as if the Mercedes driver had finally pulled it off when he crossed the finish line first at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Unfortunately for Russell, his car was found to be underweight by a mere 1.5 kg. A minute difference — but a massive one in Formula 1, where every milligram of weight matters when trying to find a performance advantage.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was asked if he believed Russell’s one-stop strategy actually contributed to his car’s weight discrepancy after the race.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Horner replied.

“I’m sure that you’d have lost well over a kilo of rubber. We saw that on Friday.

“But you know, you have to carry enough fuel to do the sample, otherwise you’re using fuel as ballast.

“Really sad news for George, but obviously a mistake in their calculations.”

It is a devastating result for a team that would have taken a massive boost in the World Constructors’ Championship thanks to its one-two finish.

But Horner wasn’t the only person Sky Sports was able to catch for an opinion. Indeed, they were able to grab Charles Leclerc — who inherited third place after Russell’s disqualification but was unable to celebrate on the podium — before the Monegasque racer left the circuit.

“They had done an incredible job today, and it’s not the difference of the weight; they won because they were the stronger team today,” Leclerc said.

“Obviously, these kinds of things, it’s difficult to do an exception, and it’s understandable that they got disqualified.

“It’s unfortunate because [Russell] had done an amazing job, as well as Mercedes.”

The disqualification will certainly provide plenty of food for thought for the Mercedes team heading into this extended summer shutdown period.

- Elizabeth Blackstock