The 2024 Belgian Grand Prix not only featured an exciting race but also produced some interesting moments once the dust settled. Perhaps the strangest moment of the Grand Prix weekend came in the cooldown room when Oscar Piastri was stuck in the midst of a “tense” and “awkward” situation with Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
Russell, who thought he had won the race (later disqualified due to the weight of his W15 not meeting FIA’s requirements) after opting for an audacious one-stop, was delighted in the cooldown room. In stark contrast, it seemed Hamilton (later deemed the winner after Russell’s disqualification) was fuming and just wanted the podium ceremony to end as soon as possible.
Speaking of the strange situation he witnessed between the two Mercedes teammates in the cool-down room, Piastri said, “The most awkward one was after Spa, where George won and Lewis finished second. I finished third on the road, and then, of course, George got disqualified. It was tense”.
Piastri then praised Hamilton for driving a “great race” even though the Briton came up short on the track. The Australian believes that in most circumstances the 39-year-old would have won the race on track itself. Therefore, he understood how Hamilton would be feeling after the race and hence, decided to keep quiet.
Piastri stated that he could sense Hamilton was not in a “chatty mood” and just did not want to be there in the cooldown room after how he lost the race on track. The seven-time champion was unhappy with his team as he had repeatedly been telling them that his tires were good and that they pitted him too early for his stops.
| Oscar Piastri says the cooldown room in Spa was “the most awkward” and that he empathised with Lewis Hamilton, who “drove a great race” :
“The most awkward cooldown room…I mean, I’ve not been in that many, but the most awkward one was after Spa, where George won and Lewis… pic.twitter.com/LNqHQ21g4j
— sim (@sim3744) October 13, 2024
Therefore, when he saw Russell pull off a one-stopper, he was unsurprisingly furious. However, with Russell getting disqualified due to his car being underweight by 1.5 kgs, Hamilton perhaps would be happy with the decision Mercedes made at the end of the day.
Hamilton had “mixed feelings” after FIA disqualified Russell
Since Hamilton was only deemed the Belgian GP winner after Russell was disqualified, the 39-year-old had “mixed feelings”. He took to X to express his feelings. “Mixed feelings for today’s result”, he wrote. “Obviously happy to get the win but I feel for George and it’s disappointing for the team not to get the 1-2”.
With Russell getting disqualified, Piastri was promoted to second and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc grabbed the final spot on the podium.
Similarly to Hamilton, Russell also was unsurprisingly disappointed to get disqualified. He said it was “heartbreaking” for him to get disqualified as he believed he and the team did an “unbelievable” job to make the one-stop strategy work.
However, F1 experts believe that it was Mercedes’ decision to opt for the one-stop strategy that resulted in Russell getting disqualified. They believe that since Russell was on much older tires, he would have suffered from excessive wear, which in turn could have resulted in his car being underweight at the end of the race.
