It was heartbreaking, says Russell as he opens up on his disqualification

F1 Grand Prix, GP Belgium, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Mercedes driver George Russel has offered his reaction to his disqualification from the Belgian Grand Prix which saw him lost his third victory of his Formula One career.

Having lacked pace during Friday's practice sessions, Mercedes driver George Russell had seemingly pulled off an unlikely win during Sunday’s race at Spa-Francorchamps. The Briton started from P6 on the grid, and committing himself to a one-stop strategy, he took his third F1 win.

However, after the chequered flag, Russell’s car was found to be underweight, with the stewards subsequently excluding him from the results – meaning team mate Lewis Hamilton takes the win.

Speaking of his feeling after the decision, Russell 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 tyres 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. He drove a great race and was the fastest car out there on the two-stop strategy. Whilst I’m incredibly disappointed, I know we will bounce back stronger after the summer break, starting in Zandvoort."

Commenting on the decison, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff noted: "We have to take our disqualification on the chin. 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 P1; he was the fastest guy on the two-stop and is a deserving winner.

"Despite the disqualification, there are many positives we can take from this weekend. We had a car that was the benchmark in today's race across two different strategies. Only a few months ago, that would have been inconceivable.

"We head into the summer break having won three of the past four races. We will look to come back after shutdown rejuvenated and with the aim of maintaining our positive trajectory."