George Russell’s disqualification from the Belgian Grand Prix has had a major impact on the battle for the 2024 Formula One World Championship, helping McLaren gain extra points over Red Bull.
Mercedes had a 1-2 finish on the road and had closed the gap on Ferrari, but they are now a distant fourth.
As F1 heads into its mid-season summer break, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen extended his lead in the drivers’ championship over McLaren’s Lando Norris, despite a 10-place grid penalty at Spa dropping him from fifth to fourth.
Norris’ mistake at the first corner proved costly, not only preventing Verstappen from taking advantage of his penalty on the day, but actually letting his title rival fall behind.
Perhaps most importantly, Red Bull has still lost points to all three of its closest rivals in the past two races after Russell’s disqualification, and has closed the points gap to McLaren to 42 points in the most recent race.
2024 F1 driver standings updated
| Kura | driver | point | Grand Prix | |||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | Four | Five | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Ten | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |||
| 1 | Max Verstappen | 277 | 26 | twenty five | – | 26 | 33 | 26 | twenty five | 8 | twenty five | twenty five | 18 | 18 | Ten | 12 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | 199 | 8 | Four | 15 | Ten | twenty one | twenty five | 18 | 12 | 18 | 19 | 6 | 15 | 18 | Ten |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | 177 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 12 | 17 | twenty two | 15 | twenty five | – | Ten | 2 | – | 12 | 15 |
| Four | Oscar Piastri | 167 | Four | 12 | 12 | Four | 6 | 3 | 12 | 18 | Ten | 6 | twenty five | 12 | twenty five | 18 |
| Five | Carlos Sainz | 162 | 15 | – | twenty five | 15 | 14 | 14 | Ten | 15 | – | 8 | 19 | 11 | 8 | 8 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | 150 | 6 | 2 | – | 2 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 13 | 15 | 15 | twenty five | 15 | twenty five |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | 131 | 18 | 18 | Ten | 18 | twenty one | 18 | Four | – | – | Four | 7 | – | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | George Russell | 116 | Ten | 8 | – | 6 | 9 | Four | 7 | Ten | 15 | 12 | 30 | – | Five | – |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | 49 | 2 | Ten | Four | 8 | 7 | 2 | – | – | 8 | – | – | Four | – | Four |
| Ten | Lance Stroll | twenty four | 1 | – | 8 | – | – | – | 2 | – | 6 | – | – | 6 | 1 | – |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | twenty two | – | 1 | 2 | – | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 8 | 8 | – | – |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | twenty two | – | – | 6 | 1 | – | 7 | 1 | Four | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | – |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | 12 | – | – | – | – | – | Five | – | – | Four | – | 2 | – | – | 1 |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | 6 | 6 | |||||||||||||
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | Five | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Four | – | – | – |
| 17 | Esteban Ocon | Five | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | 2 |
| 18 | Alexander Albon | Four | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | – | – | 2 | – | – |
| 19 | Zhou Guanyu | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 20 | Logan Sargent | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| twenty one | Valtteri Bottas | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Belgian GP’s impact on 2024 F1 driver points
At Spa-Francorchamps, Russell scored 25 points, overtaking Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez to move into seventh place, just two points behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
However, due to being disqualified from the result, Russell remained in eighth place and Lewis took the victory, leaving him 34 points behind Hamilton.
Verstappen is now two points behind leader Norris, extending his lead to 78 points with 10 races remaining.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who made the podium in Belgium, held on to third place ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, but Piastri is F1’s in-form driver, having scored 80 points in the past four races, and is now 10 points behind Leclerc.
Piastri overtook Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for fourth place in the points, with Sainz now just 12 points behind Hamilton.
Sergio Perez finished seventh in Belgium after dropping down from the front row, so is now 146 points behind team-mate Verstappen.
Updated 2024 F1 constructors standings
| Kura | constructor | point | Grand Prix | |||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | Four | Five | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Ten | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |||
| 1 | Red Bull/Honda RBPT | 408 | 44 | 43 | Ten | 44 | 54 | 44 | 29 | 8 | twenty five | 29 | twenty five | 18 | 16 | 19 |
| 2 | McLaren/Mercedes | 366 | 12 | 16 | 27 | 14 | 27 | 28 | 30 | 30 | 28 | twenty five | 31 | 27 | 43 | 28 |
| 3 | Ferrari | 345 | 27 | twenty two | 44 | 27 | 31 | 36 | twenty five | 40 | – | 18 | twenty one | 11 | 20 | twenty three |
| Four | Mercedes | 266 | 16 | Ten | – | 8 | 18 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 28 | 27 | 45 | twenty five | 20 | twenty five |
| Five | Aston Martin/Mercedes | 73 | 3 | Ten | 12 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 2 | – | 14 | – | – | Ten | 1 | Four |
| 6 | RB/Honda RBPT | 34 | – | – | 6 | 1 | – | 12 | 1 | Four | Four | – | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 7 | Haas/Ferrari | 27 | – | 1 | 3 | – | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 12 | 8 | – | – |
| 8 | Alpine/Renault | 11 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | – | 2 |
| 9 | Williams/Mercedes | Four | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | – | – | 2 | – | – |
| Ten | Sauber/Ferrari | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Belgian GP’s impact on constructors’ 2024 F1 standings
In the constructors’ championship, Red Bull has lost its 42-point advantage over McLaren after not winning any of the last three Grands Prix – for comparison, Red Bull had a 93-point advantage over McLaren after last month’s Spanish Grand Prix.
At Spa, Mercedes’ one-two finish gave them 43 points, McLaren 23, Ferrari 18 and Red Bull 15. However, Russell’s disqualification reduced Mercedes’ points tally to 19, McLaren 28, Ferrari 23 and Red Bull 19.
Ferrari remain third in the championship, 79 points behind Mercedes, which had narrowed to 56 points before Russell’s disqualification.
Aston Martin is best of the rest with 73 points, 193 points behind Mercedes.