Hill compares Russell and Schumacher over Spa DSQ

The 2024 season went into the summer break with heartbreak for George Russell whose run to victory in Spa ended in disqualification when his Mercedes was found to be underweight - which rang a few bells for Damon Hill.

Almost exactly 30 years ago, Hill had finished in second place for Williams in the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix to Benetton's Michael Schumacher, with McLaren driver Mika Hakkinen joining them on the podium at Spa-Francorchamps.

But several hours later, Hill was in the departure lounge waiting for his flight home when he got news that he'd had an upgrade - not to his flight plan, but rather to his race result. He was now officially the winner.

Schumacher had been disqualified from the race because his car did not comply with regulations regarding the skidblock. It resulted in Hill's sixth career win and cut ten points from Schumacher's lead in the driver's championship.

No wonder Hill watched the post-race events at this year's Belgian GP with a sense of eerie deja vu, as Russell's victory was snatched away for want of 1.5kg on the Mercedes, the win going to team mate Lewis Hamilton instead.

• Read also: Mercedes zeroing in on causes behind Russell’s underweight car

“I had that experience of thinking I’d come second, and went dejectedly to Brussels airport,” Hill told the official Formula 1 F1 Nation podcast this week. “I sat, and fumed, I was stroppy!

“I got to the lounge in the airport and the [press officer] at Williams came up to me with a big smile, saying: ‘Congratulations!’" he recalled. “She said, ‘You have won the race!’"

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This was news to Hill who had been unaware of the rush of developments back at the circuit after he left following the podium ceremony.

“I said: ‘I am sorry, what do you mean?’", he said. The press officer explained that they had found that Michael’s plank was too thin. It had obviously worn out. I don’t know the real reason. He was disqualified, giving me the win."

Three decades later, Hill was back at the same airport having completed his media duties for Sky Sports F1 when he found out that history might not repeat itself, but it certainly knows how to rhyme when given the opportunity.

“I was sitting in Brussels airport again when I found out Russell was disqualified, exactly where I was when I found out [Michael] had been disqualified [in 1994]," Hill marvelled.

“That’s not the way you want it to happen, you want it clean cut and undisputed," he admitted. “But the fact is, cars have to comply with the regulations or be disqualified.

"You can’t be given a ten second penalty. You can’t judge what the value of the irregularity is. It’s a simple business of measurement: something is either one metre long or it isn’t. It can’t be ‘about’ one metre long. It has to be exactly within the regs."

Or in the latest case, 1.5kg underweight. "[George] can consider himself in an unfortunate club of people who have been disqualified from winning the Belgian Grand Prix, including Schumacher," the 1996 world champion agreed.

In the end, Hill and Schumacher battled over the 1994 title all the way to the final race in Australia, with Schumacher clinching the first of his seven titles by a single point over the Briton.

The situation isn't quite the same this time around with Russell not in the running for the title. Losing all the points for victory in Spa drops him to eighth place in the standings, while Hamilton is up to sixth.

Despite a recent waning in the performance of the Red Bull, Max Verstappen continues to hold a commanding lead of 78 points over McLaren's Lando Norris with ten races remaining after the summer break.

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