Sounds like they didn’t drain all the fuel after the race in an attempt to keep it at minimum weight. After draining the rest, he’s three pounds shy.
One, almost certainly a DQ, which is the shittiest way for this race to end. Utter slam dunk, worse than the floor plank wear last season.
Two, I remember just a couple years ago when nine of ten teams were asking for the minimum weight to be increased, and they still couldn’t get the cars down to weight. The pace of development is just ridiculous.
It’s official. Gutted for George and Mercedes. But I’m happy for Hamilton.
Poor George. That was a hell of a drive. Holding Lewis off at Spa. Didn’t see that coming…
And, yeah. The Break. I’ve got nothing to do for a month. Maybe I’ll do laundry or something.
So we’ve got, what, three weeks? What’s the over/under on perez getting the boot? And who takes his seat?
I don’t suppose the Mercedes mechanics could put a quick coat of white paint on the car to bring it up to weight.
I was wondering how much a new set of tires would add…
But then he wouldn’t have won the race. Gaah!
Things like this make me actually WANT to read FIA rules, especially regarding scrutineering. Hell, I found out today the teams don’t drain the fuel after the race, the scrutineering team(?) does. I imagine the cars don’t go back to the garage after the race, but directly into parc ferme for inspection. Too much opportunity for extralegal fuckery otherwise, but still a guess.
The 1.5kg comes out to 375g per tire. On the low end, tires are roughly 9-12kg. Mercedes’ theory is the extra wear reduced the tires to where the weight was below standard, combined with the fact Spa doesn’t have a cooldown lap - drivers go around La Source and into the pit exit (extra long pit because it’s split and has to accomodate over sixty cars at times) - so no chance to pick up marbles. After getting so much luck during the race, Russell ran out after the checkered flag.
Actually, I was referencing an old legend. There’s a story (although I found a cite that says it’s not true) that back in the 1930s Mercedes arrived at the first race of the season and found that there car was 1 kg over the 750 kg limit. The mechanics spent the night sanding off the white paint down to bare aluminum, and the Silver Arrows were born.
Oops, missed the reference.
Here’s one - supposedly, the last time a driver was disqualified from first place was Michael Schumacher, in 1994, at the Belgian Grand Prix. His was for an over-worn skid plate, like Hamilton last year.
F1 is back finally so I no longer have to think about suicide!
Let’s GOOOOOOO Lando! And suck it, Max! But at least Max ran clean this race.
He didn’t have an opportunity to crash into anyone; Lando passed him comfortably and he was 12-ish seconds ahead of Leclerc at the finish.
Toto Wolff has said that the volume of fluid Russell lost during the race (i.e., sweat) was a significant fraction of the total weight violation.
Largest margin of victory in F1 this year.
Lando set the fastest lap on the final one, giving him the eight point advantage he needs to repeat every race to catch Verstappen.
Hamilton went from 15th to 8th, just five seconds behind George Russell in 7th, who started in 4th.
Logan Sergeant was the only driver to finish Lap 1 in the same place he started.
The last time a safety car was deployed was in Spain - six races ago.
I was sure that Russell had a mechanical issue. Hamilton was faster on old softs than Russell on brand new ones. But I just read an interview with him and he said he was slow on all three compounds and had no explanation.
I cannot think of a season where a team has made such a jump with an in-season update as McLaren have this year. I don’t think there have been many seasons where teams made such a huge jump even by bringing an all-new car. Lando was 48 seconds off the lead in Bahrain and Oscar was 32 seconds off in Saudi Arabia (each was the higher finishing McLaren in those races).
He had one opportunity to crash into someone and thankfully he blew it.
He’s a Kinder, Gentler Max after the break.
I watched 3/4 of the race on Mute. Enjoyed it much more, I found. Gonna have to make this a habit.
Thank you (and other posters) for this excellent summary.
This thread is definitely the best and most entertaining way to follow the season for those (like me) who don’t have time to watch the races!
I think we’ve found the reason Norris has terrible starts around Verstsappen - he’s staying away from the bowling ball.
With no warning, Williams has dropped Sargeant and brought up Franco Colapinto from F2. More here:
BTW, I’ve been meaning to say that I wish the leader board on the F1 broadcast would indicate which driver on each team has the yellow T-cam bar.
It used to be that the most senior driver on a team was black and the junior was yellow, and that made it a little easier for me, especially with the leading teams. But then Lewis threw that “rule” out the window when he decided that the yellow T-cam went better with his helmet. 
But from the mid-pack on down, I usually can’t remember which one is yellow: Hulkenberg or Magnussen, Gasly or Ocon, Zhou or Bottas?
So on the leader board, why not put a little yellow mark next to the name, or set the name in yellow? Wouldn’t that be a simple but major improvement?
I wouldn’t say it was with no warning. James Vowles has given Sargent a vote of confidence several times. That’s effectively the kiss of death.
