When Damon Hill discovered he won an F1 race in Brussels Airport 30 years ago

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George Russell’s disqualification from the Belgian Grand Prix was the first time a driver had been stripped of a race win for a technical breach in 30 years.

The Mercedes driver was found to be 1.5kg under the 798kg minimum weight limit permitted by the FIA, in what has become a mysterious set of circumstances likely brought on by Russell’s unconventional one-stop strategy.

It last happened at the same venue when Michael Schumacher crossed the line in first place while racing for Benetton. The German managed to take the lead on the opening lap from polesitter Rubens Barrichello, before going on to win the race on track by 13 seconds from Williams’ Damon Hill.

Several hours after the race when the FIA was competing in post-race inspections, excessive wear was found on the wooden skid blocks of the underside of Schumacher’s car.

The skid block was mandatory on all cars having been introduced by the FIA two races prior for the first time in Germany, which was done as part of the clamp down on safety in the aftermath of Ayton Senna’s death at Imola.

Second-placed Hill had already left the track when Schumacher’s disqualification was announced and found himself in the same place 30 years later when Russell was excluded. He recalls the bizarre race win when discussing it on the F1 Nation podcast.

Damon Hill recalls bizarre Belgian Grand Prix race win 30 years ago

Hill initially qualified in third place and managed to climb up to second following a spun by Barrichello, even going on to set the fastest lap of the race in his Williams.

He would later learn that he was declared the winner of the race after Schumacher’s car was disqualified due to the technical infringement.

“I had that experience of thinking I’d come second. I went very dejectedly to Brussels Airport and sat in my car and sort of fumed and kind of a bit stroppy,” said Hill.

“Then I got to the BA lounge in Brussels Airport and Anne Bradshaw, who was the press woman at Williams, came up to me with a big smile and said ‘Congratulations!’ and I went ‘Why the big smiles?’
‘You’ve won the race!’
‘Uh, I’m sorry. What do you mean?’

And they’d found that Michael Schumacher’s plank was too thin. It had obviously worn out. I don’t know what the real reason for that was, but they found something on his car that wasn’t right. And he was disqualified from the results giving me the win.”

Why Michael Schumacher was disqualified from the 1994 Belgian GP

Much like Russell’s exclusion, technical infringements in F1 always lead to automatic disqualifications regardless of their nature. Mercedes admitted they made a mistake after the race this year but in the case of Schumacher, Benetton tried to argue the case to have the result reinstated.

Wear on the skid blocks was permitted up to 1mm but any greater would make the ride height too low and result in an illegal aerodynamic advantage.

Benetton argued that Schumacher’s car had picked up the excessive wear from a spin on Lap 19, but the stewards would reject this claim based on the wear pattern.

With the disqualification, Schumacher’s lead over Hill in the Drivers’ Championship was reduced to 21 points in the final five races. The German would go on to win his first of a record seven titles with the team, achiving a second in 1995 before switching to Ferrari in the 1996 season.