F1 News: Russell outduels Hamilton for leads Mercedes 1-2 at Spa

BREAKING NEWS: F1 BREAKING NEWS: Mercedes caught cheating, Russell disqualified

George Russell used a 1-stop strategy and was able to hold off Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in a hard fought 2024 Belgian GP at Spa Francorchamps.

—by Mark Cipolloni–

Starting 6th, Russell made his hard Pirelli tires last 34 laps for his third career F1 win and Mercedes goes into the summer break with a 1-2 finish.

Russell a two-time race winner this season, the first bar Verstappen to achieve that feat.

“Amazing, amazing result – definitely didn’t predict this win this morning in our strategy meeting,” said a happy Russell. “The tires felt great so I just kept saying we can do the one-stop, we can do the one-stop. Well done to Lewis, he did a great job controlling the race and if circumstances were different he could have won the race.”

“It was a team effort, the strategists did a wonder full job. The car felt great and the pace was there. It’s so well deserved for everybody.”

“We definitely didn’t [expect this] so first of all congratulations to George and to the team,” said Hamilton. “We had such a disaster on Friday so made some changes and the car was fantastic today.”

“I was trying to get closer, but George did a great job on going long on the tires. Every stint I had tires left but the team brought me in…”

The winner last week in Hungary, Oscar Piastri, was just 1.173s behind Russell at the finish in one of the closest Belgian GP finishes in history.

“Honestly yes, I thought I could [get the Mercedes] as clean air made such a difference today,” said Piastri. “Happy with the result, we managed the race very well, think that’s the second or third time this year we’ve tried to run over the front jack so I’ll try and not do that again!”

Charles Leclerc, who started first, held on for 4th in his #16 Ferrari, 8.549s behind Russell.

Point leader Max Verstappen, who had to start 11th after a grid penalty for a new engine, increased his point lead over title rival Lando Norris by 2 points by holding off Norris for 5th place, 9.226s behind Russell.

Verstappen has not won since the Spanish GP as the inferior Red Bull falls further and further behind

Verstappen now leads the championship by 78 points, 275 to 197 for Norris with Charles Leclerc in 3rd with 174 points with 10 of 24 races left to run after the long summer break.

Friday’s very high levels of degradation dictated that this should be a two-stop race, the new areas of track surface chewing up the rubber quicker than expected. But in today’s warmer conditions, helped by some support races, the track actually rubbered in nicely.

But with most sticking to a two-stop and the undercut strong, combined with overtaking being tricker thanks to the DRS changes, drivers were being brought in early to try and cover each other off.

All of which left Russell – starting sixth an unmarked man – with an opportunity to do something different when he realised his tyres were not going off a cliff like they expected.

2024 Belgian GP Race Results – 44 Laps

Fastest Lap: Sergio Perez

Russell’s one-stop strategy proved to be a masterstroke as he fended