Mercedes have confirmed George Russell will take a grid penalty for exceeding his engine allocation, but are yet to decide which race to serve it at. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli will start at the back of the field at the next Formula 1 race in Italy next weekend, but Russell will also face the same repercussions at a race later this season. Despite having the best car for the majority of this year, both Mercedes drivers have suffered from engine unreliability and will need more than the four allotted power units for this season, thus incurring grid penalties.
"We have not finalised where George will take his penalty, but both drivers will be affected," said Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord on the team's Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show. "George retired in Canada, Kimi retired in Barcelona, and George also stopped at the end of qualifying in Hungary. Had that happened in the race, the impact could have been much greater.
"We must manage the remaining events so that both cars reach the end of the season with the freshest and best-performing hardware possible. It is a constant trade-off between the risk of running high-mileage components and the points cost of taking a grid penalty and recovering through the field." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Antonelli leads Russell and Lewis Hamilton by 59 points in the Drivers' Championship with 11 scheduled events remaining, although there is uncertainty about the final races on the calendar in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Lando Norris, the winner of the last two races, is 83 points behind Antonelli and could make further inroads at the Italian Grand Prix next Sunday.
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin says the team will continue to assess where Russell takes his grid penalty. "Every race adds mileage and learning across Mercedes and the customer teams. Components are checked continually, and we assess whether previous containment measures have solved the underlying issues," he said.
"Our confidence in running a power unit to a sixth or seventh event may be higher in a few races than it is today, so the plans are reviewed after every weekend." Following their double podium at Zandvoort, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff revealed the Silver Arrows do not have the money to respond to the growing threat from McLaren and Ferrari. Mercedes have lost their early-season pace advantage and have brought the fewest developments of the front-running teams this season. On the FIA's upgrades declaration sheet, Mercedes have fitted 24 new parts to their car compared to 37 for Red Bull, 38 for McLaren and 40 by Ferrari.
Since 2021, F1 has had financial regulations which limit the teams' budget they can spend each year to ensure costs do not get out of hand. Lord suggested the budget cap regulations and Mercedes putting more money into the car at the start of this year means they have less resource for in-season development. "It is the reality every team faces under the cost cap.
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