George Russell’s disqualification from the Belgian Grand Prix had a big impact on the 2024 F1 World Championship chase, and helped McLaren gain an extra point on Red Bull.
Mercedes’ 1-2 on-the-road had seriously closed the gap on Ferrari, but it now remains well adrift in fourth.
As F1 enters its mid-season summer break, Max Verstappen extended his drivers’ championship lead for Red Bull over McLaren’s Lando Norris – despite his 10-place grid penalty in Spa that restricted Max to fifth place, which became fourth.
Norris’s first corner slip-up proved costly, on a day when he not only failed to capitalize on Verstappen’s penalty but actually lost ground to his title rival.
Perhaps most significantly, Red Bull has been outscored by all its three nearest rivals in the past two races, even after Russell’s DQ, and its points lead has been slashed in recent races to 42 over McLaren.
Updated 2024 F1 standings for drivers
| Cla | Driver | Points | Grands Prix | |||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |||
| 1 | Max Verstappen | 277 | 26 | 25 | - | 26 | 33 | 26 | 25 | 8 | 25 | 25 | 18 | 18 | 10 | 12 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | 199 | 8 | 4 | 15 | 10 | 21 | 25 | 18 | 12 | 18 | 19 | 6 | 15 | 18 | 10 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | 177 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 12 | 17 | 22 | 15 | 25 | - | 10 | 2 | - | 12 | 15 |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | 167 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 18 | 10 | 6 | 25 | 12 | 25 | 18 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | 162 | 15 | - | 25 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 15 | - | 8 | 19 | 11 | 8 | 8 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | 150 | 6 | 2 | - | 2 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 25 | 15 | 25 |
| 7 | Sergio Pérez | 131 | 18 | 18 | 10 | 18 | 21 | 18 | 4 | - | - | 4 | 7 | - | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | George Russell | 116 | 10 | 8 | - | 6 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 15 | 12 | 30 | - | 5 | - |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | 49 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 2 | - | - | 8 | - | - | 4 | - | 4 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | 24 | 1 | - | 8 | - | - | - | 2 | - | 6 | - | - | 6 | 1 | - |
| 11 | Nico Hülkenberg | 22 | - | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 8 | 8 | - | - |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | 22 | - | - | 6 | 1 | - | 7 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | 1 | 2 | - |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | 12 | - | - | - | - | - | 5 | - | - | 4 | - | 2 | - | - | 1 |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | 6 | 6 | |||||||||||||
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | 5 | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4 | - | - | - |
| 17 | Esteban Ocon | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | 2 |
| 18 | Alexander Albon | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | - | - |
| 19 | Zhou Guanyu | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 21 | Valtteri Bottas | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
How the Belgian GP impacted 2024 F1 drivers’ points
Russell’s 25 points at Spa-Francorchamps had elevated him past Red Bull’s Sergio Perez into seventh and put him just two behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
But, following his disqualification from the results, Russell stays eighth, and is now 34 points behind Hamilton after Lewis inherited his victory.
Verstappen gained two points on Norris at the head of the standings, extending his lead to 78 with 10 races remaining.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was elevated to the podium in Belgium, retains third from Oscar Piastri (McLaren). Piastri is F1’s form man – along with Hamilton – having scored 80 points over the last four events. Oscar is now 10 points behind Leclerc.
Piastri has overtaken Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for fourth in points, with the Spaniard now only 12 points clear of Hamilton.
Sergio Perez’s slump from the front row to finish seventh in Belgium means he’s now 146 behind team-mate Verstappen.
Updated 2024 F1 standings for constructors
| Cla | Constructor | Points | Grands Prix | |||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |||
| 1 | Red Bull/Honda RBPT | 408 | 44 | 43 | 10 | 44 | 54 | 44 | 29 | 8 | 25 | 29 | 25 | 18 | 16 | 19 |
| 2 | McLaren/Mercedes | 366 | 12 | 16 | 27 | 14 | 27 | 28 | 30 | 30 | 28 | 25 | 31 | 27 | 43 | 28 |
| 3 | Ferrari | 345 | 27 | 22 | 44 | 27 | 31 | 36 | 25 | 40 | - | 18 | 21 | 11 | 20 | 23 |
| 4 | Mercedes | 266 | 16 | 10 | - | 8 | 18 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 28 | 27 | 45 | 25 | 20 | 25 |
| 5 | Aston Martin/Mercedes | 73 | 3 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 2 | - | 14 | - | - | 10 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | RB/Honda RBPT | 34 | - | - | 6 | 1 | - | 12 | 1 | 4 | 4 | - | 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 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | - | - |
| 10 | Sauber/Ferrari | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
How the Belgian GP impacted 2024 F1 standings for constructors
In the constructors’ championship, Red Bull’s advantage over McLaren is down to 42 – having failed to win a race over the last three grands prix. To put that into perspective, Red Bull’s advantage over McLaren was 93 after last month’s Spanish GP.
Mercedes’ 1-2 had produced 43 points, compared to McLaren’s 23, Ferrari’s 18 and Red Bull’s 15 in Spa. But Russell’s disqualification means it instead registered 19 to McLaren’s 28, Ferrari’s 23 and Red Bull’s 19.
Ferrari remains third in the championship, 79 clear of Mercedes with it had been down to 56 before Russell’s DQ.
Aston Martin is best of the rest with 73 points – 193 behind Mercedes.
