George Russell will start from the back of the grid at Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix due to a power unit change in a further blow to his championship hopes.
Russell suffered a power unit failure late in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia when running third, forcing him to retire as his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli finished second to extend his lead over the Briton at the top of the drivers’ championship to 84 points with seven rounds remaining.
Sky Sports News understands Russell will receive a new power unit on Friday in Singapore, which will see him go past the season’s quota of four for each driver, thus incurring a penalty that will drop him to the back of the grid.
Russell was expected to have a new power unit at the United States Grand Prix later this month which would include an upgrade, with Mercedes taking advantage of the opportunity given by the FIA’s ADUO (Additional Development and Improvement Opportunity) system to improve their engine.
The ranking of Mercedes’ engine performance below Red Bull by the sport’s governing body has caused some controversy, with the Milton Keynes outfit arguing that the Silver Arrows, who are dominating the constructors’ championship, already have the best power unit.
It is now understood that Mercedes’ upgraded power unit could be fast-tracked to be ready for Russell at the Singapore Grand Prix, which would at least prevent him from incurring further penalties later in the season for getting more new parts.
Both Mercedes drivers have suffered power unit problems throughout this season, with Antonelli having to start at the bottom of the grid at the Italian Grand Prix, where he burst through the field from 19th to win.
Monza is one of the easiest tracks on the F1 calendar to pass, while Singapore’s Marina Bay Street Circuit is one of the toughest.
Singapore is a Sprint weekend so Russell’s new start will only apply to the Sunday Grand Prix and not the Saturday Sprint.
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Toto Wolff fumes after George Russell’s retirement in Malaysia
Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord says the Brackley-based outfit are not sure what caused their latest problem in Malaysia with Russell.
“Our investigation so far, we’ve got the car back, we’ve been able to do a first inspection, it’s clearly a mechanical failure on the power unit side,” he said in Mercedes’ race summary video.
“Exactly what the root cause is, we have yet to determine, but the consequences were clear for all to see.”
Why Mercedes suffered ‘worst weekend of the season’
Mercedes brought a major aerodynamic upgrade to Malaysia, their biggest since the Canadian Grand Prix in May, but were easily beaten by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who converted pole position into victory.
Toto Wolff described it as Mercedes’ “worst weekend of the season”, largely due to Russell’s retirement, which he said was “unacceptable”.
But in terms of outright pace, Mercedes were surprisingly outdone by Red Bull, and Lord puts that down to multiple factors.
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Highlights of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia at the Sepang International Circuit
“The potential combination of updates, track temperature and track surface caused an interaction and a range of behaviors that meant the car was not in its usual happy state, that the drivers had to throttle the car in the slow corners,” he explained.
“This was further exacerbating the challenges with tire temperatures.
“That’s not an easy thing to pick. It’s a bit of a 3D problem that we have to address and then figure out exactly what steps we’re going to take going forward to make sure that we’ve got the baseline that we need to understand that the update is working well and that we’re going in the right direction in our development, not just for this year’s car, but for next year as well.
“That’s the work that’s going on at the moment in the factory and also in Singapore to determine exactly what the plan is for the next few days and the race weekend in Singapore.”
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Watch some of the most dramatic moments that happened at the Singapore Grand Prix
Live Sky Sports F1 Singapore GP Sprint weekend schedule
Thursday, October 8
11:00 a.m.: Drivers’ press conference
2.00pm: Paddock uncut
Friday, October 9
9:00am: GP practice in Singapore (session starts at 9.30am)*
11.30: Press conference of the team chiefs
13:00: Sprint GP Singapore Qualifying (session starts at 13:30)*
Saturday, October 10
09:00: Singapore GP Sprint Preparation*
10:00: Singapore GP SPRINT*
13:00: Singapore Grand Prix qualifying
14:00: SINGAPORE GP QUALIFICATIONS*
16:00: Ted’s qualifying notebook
Sunday, October 11
11.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Singapore GP Preparation
13:00: SINGAPORE Grand Prix
3pm: Checkered flag: Singapore GP reaction
16:00: Ted’s notebook
*also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 heads straight to Singapore for the final Sprint weekend of the season with on-track action starting this Friday, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
