The Belgian Grand Prix ended with the disqualification of George Russell, after which Lewis Hamilton, his Mercedes teammate, inherited the victory. For Damon Hill, this story reminded him of the events of August 1994, because then, almost thirty years ago, Michael Schumacher, the winner of the race in Spa, was also disqualified and the British driver, who was then driving for Williams, rose to the first line of the protocol.
“I had a similar experience, because at the time I thought I was second,” the 1996 world champion recalled while speaking on the F1 Nation podcast. “I was driving towards Brussels airport in great despondency, I got to the British Airways business lounge and Anne Bradshaw, who was working for Williams’ press office at the time, came up to me with a big smile on her face.
“Congratulations!” – she said. I asked her why she congratulated me and why she smiled like that?
“You won the race!” – Ann replied and told that after the finish it turned out that the control rod under the bottom of Michael’s Benetton was too thin due to increased wear. I don’t know exactly what the reason was, but the fact is that the FIA found that his car did not comply with the technical regulations.
Schumacher was disqualified and the victory was awarded to me. By the way, now that George Russell was disqualified, I found out about it at Brussels airport, just like then.
Of course, you don’t want to win races like that – you want everything to happen on the track so that there is no doubt about your victory, but the fact remains: the car must comply with the technical regulations. If it doesn’t, the driver is disqualified.
A 10-second penalty is not enough here. The point is simply the fact of non-compliance, established during the technical inspection process. Certain parameters are measured and everything must fit exactly within the limits set by the rules. George can therefore consider himself a new member of the club that Michael Schumacher is already part of. This is a club of drivers who have had a lot of bad luck because they were denied victory in the Belgian Grand Prix…”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
