EXPLAINED: Why George Russell was disqualified and stripped of ...

What did the team say?

Quite simply, Mercedes admitted they had made a mistake.

“We have to take our disqualification on the chin,” said Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff. “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 apologise to George who drove such a strong race.

“Lewis is of course promoted to P1l he was the fastest guy on the two-stop and is a deserving winner.”

MONDAY MORNING DEBRIEF: How Verstappen was seriously compromised in Spa as he attempted to recover from his grid penalty

How could this have happened?

The team need time to investigate it all, but it is possible Russell’s one-stop strategy – he was the only frontrunner to not do two stops – could be the culprit.

“We don’t yet understand why the car was underweight following the race but will investigate thoroughly to find the explanation,” said trackside chief Andrew Shovlin.