Russell praises one-stop strategy, but investigation raises doubts about Belgian F1 GP victory – Motorsport Week

Mercedes George Russell was in high spirits after claiming his third Grand Prix victory at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday to complete a one-two for Mercedes in the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix. He praised the one-stop strategy that helped him to the win, but the Briton now faces an investigation into the legality of his victory.

During post-race scrutineering, it was discovered that Russell’s Mercedes was too light, and this matter has now been referred to race control. However, prior to this revelation, Russell was the centre of attention at the post-race press conference.

The run to his endangered victory was made possible by the decision to stick to a one-stop procedure. This set him apart from his competitors, but at the end of the race it was the right decision.

Russell conserved his hard tyres from lap 11 to lap 44, kept Lewis Hamilton at bay in the final laps and crossed the start/finish line first.

“We talked so much this morning about the two-stop and three-stop variants,” said Russell.

“Suddenly the tires and the car felt really, really good. I was really getting going and especially when I took the lead, there were no stragglers in front of me, no other cars and it felt like I was driving in a simulator.”

“It was pretty weird. I saw the gap to Lewis and the speed at which he was catching me. And I just thought to myself: there’s no reason why we can’t stay here and have a stop and try to make it work.”

With no one choosing to stop, it was a life-or-death decision for Russell, which could have backfired and dropped him further back and potentially put him out of contention for a podium place.

The Mercedes driver said the discussion with his team about whether to take the risk “went back and forth quite a bit over the course of the three laps,” but ultimately it was a question of instinct.

“I think it’s difficult,” Russell said.

“If you have a gut feeling, you just have to accept it. But when every single driver and every team is pitting to try an alternative strategy, and all the data from Friday suggests that a one-stop approach is not even remotely feasible, you play it through a few times and think, ‘Are we missing something here? Why isn’t anyone else doing this?’

“I just felt at one with the tires and managed to get it right a little bit at the beginning and knew that I would win some money back at the end.

“Sometimes it shows that we have so many sensors and data points on the car, but we are only 20 drivers of these F1 cars and sometimes you feel it. You feel the tire sliding along the track and sometimes you just have to trust your gut.”

Russell’s race was well run and, more importantly, well won, but his joy may be short-lived as he and drivers including Hamilton, third-placed Oscar Piastri and fourth-placed Charles Leclerc await the verdict from race control.