George Russell’s disqualification from the Belgian Grand Prix has had a major impact on the race for the 2024 F1 World Championship, helping McLaren gain an extra point over Red Bull.

Mercedes’ 1st-2nd finishes on the grid have significantly reduced the gap to Ferrari, but they are still a distant fourth.

As F1 heads into the mid-season summer break, Max Verstappen has extended Red Bull’s lead at the top of the drivers’ championship over McLaren’s Lando Norris – although a 10-place penalty at Spa saw him finish fifth, then fourth.

Norris’s first mistake at the corner proved costly, as he failed to capitalise on Verstappen’s penalty and lost ground to his title rival. Perhaps most importantly, Red Bull have been overtaken by all three of their closest rivals in the last two races, even after Russell’s disqualification, and the points gap between them and McLaren has narrowed in recent races to 42 points.

How the Belgian GP will impact F1 driver points in 2024
Russell’s 25 points at Spa-Francorchamps moved him above Red Bull’s Sergio Perez into seventh place, just two points behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

However, after being disqualified from the results, Russell remains eighth and is now 34 points behind Hamilton after Lewis’s win.

Verstappen moved two points clear of Norris at the top of the standings, extending his lead to 78 points with 10 races to go.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was propelled to the podium in Belgium, remains third from Oscar Piastri (McLaren). Piastri is F1’s most in-form driver – along with Hamilton – having scored 80 points in the last four events. Oscar is now 10 points behind Leclerc.

Piastri has overtaken Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz into fourth place in the points standings, with the Spaniard now just 12 points ahead of Hamilton.

Sergio Perez’s drop from the top of the standings to seventh in Belgium means he is now 146 points behind team-mate Verstappen.

How the Belgian GP will impact the 2024 F1 constructors’ standings
In the constructors’ championship, Red Bull’s advantage over McLaren has shrunk to 42 – having failed to win a race in the last three grand prix. To put that into perspective, Red Bull’s advantage over McLaren was 93 after last month’s Spanish GP.

Mercedes 1-2 had scored 43 points, compared to McLaren’s 23, Ferrari’s 18 and Red Bull’s 15 at Spa. But Russell’s disqualification meant they instead scored 19 points, compared to McLaren’s 28, Ferrari’s 23 and Red Bull’s 19.

Ferrari remained third in the championship, 79 points ahead of Mercedes, before Russell’s disqualification, they had dropped to 56 points.

Aston Martin were the top-scoring team with 73 points – 193 points behind Mercedes.