How did the podium finishers react after the Belgian Grand Prix?
Mercedes became record fourth constructor to take a 1-2 finish this season after George Russell won the Belgian Grand Prix ahead of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes endured a difficult opening day at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. The Anglo-German outfit struggled for one-lap pace, but their race simulation was not great either.
The team also switched its initial low-downforce configuration to a higher-downforce package between the first and second practice, but it still yielded little progress. However, Mercedes elected to ditch its heavily-upgraded floor to revert to its old-specification while they also made further crucial tweaks to the W15's aerodynamic configuration.
With qualifying day heavily affected by rain and damp conditions, Mercedes were unable to assess the effect of the modification. But the team showed excellent pace and went for a brilliant strategy with George Russell to secure a double victory for the first time since the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix.
The now three-time F1 race winner George Russell added: "Amazing, amazing result - definitely didn't predict this win this morning in our strategy meeting. The tyres felt great so I just kept saying we can do the one-stop, we can do the one-stop.
"Well done to Lewis, he did a great job controlling the race and if circumstances were different he could have won the race. It was a team effort, the strategists did a wonder full job. The car felt great and the pace was there. It's so well deserved for everybody," said Russell.
Speaking after the race, Hamilton said that Mercedes turned Friday's "disaster" into a car that displayed race-winning performance.
"No, we definitely didn't [expect this] so first of all congratulations to George and to the team. We had such a disaster on Friday so made some changes and the car was fantastic today.
"I was trying to get closer, but George did a great job on going long on the tyres. Every stint I had tyres left but the team brought me in..."
McLaren's Oscar Piastri looked quick all through the race, especially after his second stop. While previous race leaders Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc opted for an early second stop, the Australian stayed out on track to extend his second stint.
The Hungarian Grand Prix winner then made good use of the grip advantage on his fresher tyres to close in on Leclerc and got ahead of the Monegasque. In the dying stages of the 44-lap Belgian Grand Prix, Piastri joined the leading duo of Russell and Hamilton, but he did not have enough time to attempt an overtaking manoeuvre.
"Honestly yes, I thought I could [get the Mercedes] as clean air made such a difference today. Happy with the result, we managed the race very well, think that's the second or third time this year we've tried to run over the front jack so I'll try and not do that again!"
