Hamilton handed Belgian GP win after Russell DQ'd

A terrific day in Belgium for Mercedes turned into a bit of a mess.

Lewis Hamilton was named the winner of Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix after teammate George Russell was disqualified for winning the race in an underweight car.

Russell's car weighed 796.5 kg following the race, under the required minimum 798 kg weight.

"We have to take our disqualification on the chin," Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said. "We have clearly made a mistake and need to ensure we learn from it. We will go away, evaluate what happened, and understand what went wrong.

"To lose a 1-2 is frustrating, and we can only apologize to George, who drove such a strong race."

Hamilton's win is the 105th of his career and second in three races.

Before the disqualification, Russell held off the surging Hamilton over the final laps to win the race, with McLaren's Oscar Piastri rounding out the podium with a third-place finish.

It's the third win in four races for Mercedes and would have been the first time the Silver Arrows finished 1-2 in two years. The disqualification also cost Russell his second Grand Prix win of the season and third of his career.

The change in result spoiled a terrific drive for Russell, who raced 34 laps of the 44-lap course on the same set of tires, while the rest of the field pitted twice.

Initially, Hamilton wasn't pleased with having to stop more than his teammate, especially considering he had a 12-second lead at one point in the race.

"Every stint I had tires left, but the team pulled me in," Hamilton said after the race. "It's unfortunate, but it's one of those days."

Piastri used a brilliant overtake of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on Lap 36 to get into podium position, earning critical points for McLaren, which is attempting to beat Red Bull for the constructors' championship.

Lando Norris, who began the race in fourth position, winds up in fifth after the disqualification.

Max Verstappen, who started 11th after getting a 10-place grid penalty for a new power unit, ended up with a fourth-place result. Teammate Sergio Perez ended up in seventh position but salvaged an extra point for recording the race's fastest lap.

The F1 season heads into summer break and will return Aug. 25 for the Dutch Grand Prix.