2024 F1 Belgian GP race analysis by Peter Windsor

It was a bittersweet day for Mercedes, with George Russell being disqualified after winning the race on the road with a stunning one-stop strategy and Sir Lewis Hamilton, who finished in his shadow, taking over the win. Russell's car was found to be 1.5kg under the minimum weight limit in post-race scrutineering - and Mercedes already seem to have accepted that there were no extraneous circumstances. This is the second time in two races that the Russell car has been the subject of a weight margin issue: in Hungary qualifying, Russell missed the Q1 cut when his car ran out of fuel before the chequered flag. McLaren-Mercedes' Oscar Piastri finished third on the road in Spa, right behind the Mercedes pair, and thus moves up to P2 in the final results; and P3 now, after leading initially from the pole, was Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Max Verstappen, who started P11 after incurring a ten-place grid penalty due to an out-of-regulation engine change, finished fourth and thus goes into the August break with a comfortable 78-point lead over McLaren-Mercedes' Lando Norris (who finished P5 in Belgium). Peter Windsor in this video looks back at an extraordinary day in the Ardennes forest - at the strategy that appeared to give Russell the win; at Lewis Hamilton's immaculate drive; at why the McLaren-Mercedes and Ferrari challenges fell short; and at how Verstappen's drive evolved from P11 to P4.
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Alternative race stats courtesy of Aleš Norskŷ:
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[AndrewLockwood]

Lewis drove a fantastic race. I feel like he’s being under appreciated today

[horayman]

Very happy for Lewis, drove a great race...deserved the win.

[Bilson]

“Mclaren fell away”.. barely even mentions Oscar Piastri..

Peter just disregarding the fact that Piastri finished 1 second behind the leader despite losing 5+ seconds in the last pit stop and having to overtake leclerc (with a superb move btw). And setting fastest lap on 17 lap old hards..

These last few weeks I’ve really fallen off Peters analysis. Some very odd takes that are objectively just plain wrong

[michaeliacono]

As an antipodean very proud of Piastri, I cant help noticing a typical Pom looking down on or ignoring another stellar performance from "The Colonies" . I mean really, Mclaren fell away ? You're missing one of the most interesting threads of the season with your miopic view that Lando is the only (Brit) driver in the McLaren team. Piastri is in his second year, regularly up on the podium now. In such a short amount of time has learnt how to manage tyres and developed at such an amazing rate. But you barely even rate him a mention. Max, Max, Max. Whatever. Mark my words. Piastri will be on the top step regularly before you know it. His trajectory is inevitable and you don't even notice.

[edwardjones]

Lewis mentioned after the race that a 1 stop was discussed prerace as an option. When Russel was asked if the one stop was his decision he said it was the teams. Lewis complained that even after telling the engineers over the radio that his tires were good, they never discussed the one stop, only did with Russel, that's why Ham was so livid.

[mintoxace]

I don’t know what’s changed lately Peter, but you seem to be extremely down on Oscar Piastri and riding Lando‘s coattails, despite the fact that Lando bottled his start again when in a position to do something good in the race. The McLaren challenge wasn’t diluted, because Oscar was the only one who had the skills and ability to challenge the Mercedes drivers. His much vaunted teammate Lando Norris was buried in the back of the pack because he stuffed the start, and then didn’t drive well enough. Might be time for you to open your eyes mate. Oscar is out performing Lando and I know people don’t like to hear that, but that’s what’s happening right now.

[ariebroek]

If George would have pitted, he would have ended behind Lando. If the hards would dropped massively he would have ended third. Good call by George. It was his call. Unfortunately not the reward he deserved. But Lewis drove superbly, so good winner of a great race

[crestarook]

Mr. Windsor, I respect you alot sir. But there's no way Russell would've beat Hamilton or anyother driver in that situation if his car was legal.

[lukealadeen]

It saved him over a second over the entire race. I dont understand why Peter would say it made no difference

[TechWithShon]

No offense there's no way GR was keeping his position with 1.5KG of weight, That's worth about 3-5 Seconds of overall race at Spa

[Gez]

Didn't Lewis also say he felt there was plenty of life in the tyres when he was pitted

[aleymircastellano]

Did you forget that Lewis didn’t know about George’s change in strategy? He was told to keep the car behind -behind- and never got information that he was also racing George. He had pushed faster and harder after the second stop had he known that GR was a threat.

[daviddickinson]

Lewis said twice that the tyres were good, implying that he could go on but the team called him in. Why did they allow George to stay out knowing that he may compromise Lewis's race. Lewis controlled the race perfectly so in my opinion Karma prevailed and the right person won.

[anthonydykstra]

Pete's not going have a cry about Oscar having the inside line at turn 1 over Lando this week!!

[ellea]

Peter, a little confused how you did not highlight Leclerc's efforts today. Terrific performance to keep the car in P4, a head of Max and Lando with an inferior car that's comfortably fourth fastest. This entire weekend has been nothing, but superb. Hope Ferrari can bounce back after the break.

[stevenjackson]

Lewis said a few years back, if he was 1kg overweight, he'd lose around 4 to 5 seconds over a race distance. So, i give russell zero credit. A cheated car is a cheated car.

[denosang]

There's no way George would've kept that position with an extra 1.5kgs

[de]

Peter, How did Oscar illegally push Lando off at t1 this week

[dane]

Amazing drive today from Lewis 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🐐

[maryallyson]

It’s amazing to me how many of these reviews of the 2024 Belgium GP that I’ve seen completely ignore the fact that Merc allowed RUS to change team strategy to the detriment of Lewis and did not inform Lewis early enough of the implications of the change in strategy to split the strategies across drivers. Lewis should have been given full information to 1.) Opt for a one stop for himself; and 2.) Deploy his tires to challenge RUS much earlier in the final stint