George Russell congratulates Lewis Hamilton on winning the F1 Belgian GP after being disqualified from the race

Mercedes driver George Russell congratulated his teammate Lewis Hamilton on winning the F1 Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday. This came after Russel was disqualified from the race as his teammate took up his position at the top of the field. The young British driver surprised everyone with his one-stop masterclass, catching out both teams and drivers alike as he took the chequered flag ahead of Hamilton.

The 26-year-old nurtured the 30-lap-old hard tires to the finish line and held off a stern challenge from Hamilton, who had fresher hard tires. However, the win was taken from him after he was disqualified by the FIA for having a car that was 1.5 kg under the minimum limit of 798 kg.

Despite his disappointment, George Russell graciously congratulated Lewis Hamilton on the win at the Spa-Francorchamps and wrote on his Instagram story:

"Congratulations on the win @lewishamilton"

In his Instagram post, the Mercedes driver claimed that he was heartbroken after he was denied his third race win in the sport and said:

"Heartbreaking… We came in 1.5kg underweight and have been disqualified from the race. We left it all on the track today and I take pride in crossing the line first. There will be more to come."

George Russell comments on his one-stop race at the Belgian GP

George Russell stated that despite the disqualification, he had an 'unbelievable' one-stop race on Sunday that saw him cross the line in P1 ahead of his teammate after initially starting the Belgian GP from P6.

As per F1.com, the Brit said:

"It is heartbreaking to be disqualified from today’s race. It had been an unbelievable Grand Prix for us to make the one-stop strategy work. In what turned out to be my final stint, the tires just kept getting better and better. I was nursing them in the early stages and as we went further, I became more and more convinced we could get to the end on them."

"It was a risk worth taking and it looked like it had paid off. Despite the disqualification, I am of course proud to have crossed the line first. It is also good that the team was still able to take the victory with Lewis. Whilst I’m incredibly disappointed, I know we will bounce back stronger after the summer break, starting in Zandvoort."

George Russell had momentarily moved to P7 in the Driver's Championship just two points behind his Mercedes teammate but the disqualification has put him back to P8 with 116 points after 14 races and three Sprints heading into the summer break.

In the past three races, the 26-year-old has led from the front in two of those but has failed to convert them due to circumstances out of his hands in Silverstone and Spa.