George Russell is set to 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 while his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli finished second to extend his lead over the Brit at the top of the Drivers' Championship to 84 points with seven rounds remaining. Sky Sports News understands Russell will take on a new power unit on Friday in Singapore, which will see him exceed the season allocation of four for each driver, therefore incurring a penalty that will drop him to the rear of the grid.
Russell was expected to have a new power unit at the United States Grand Prix later this month that was going to include an upgrade, with Mercedes taking up the opportunity they were granted by the FIA's ADUO (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities) system to improve their engine. The ranking of Mercedes' engine performance below Red Bull's by the sport's governing body has caused some dispute, with the Milton Keynes squad 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 having to incur further penalties later in the season for taking more new parts.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Both Mercedes drivers have suffered power unit problems throughout this season, with Antonelli having to start at the back of the grid at the Italian Grand Prix, where he stormed through the field from 19th to win. Monza is one of the easiest tracks on the F1 calendar to overtake at whereas the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore is one of the toughest. Singapore is a Sprint weekend so Russell's back of the grid start will only apply to the Grand Prix on Sunday and not Saturday's Sprint.
Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord says the Brackley-based outfit are unsure what caused their latest issue 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 debrief video. "Exactly what the root cause is we still need to determine, but the consequence was clear for all to see." Mercedes brought a major aerodynamic upgrade to Malaysia, their biggest since May's Canadian Grand Prix, but were comfortably beaten by Red Bull's Max Verstappen who converted pole position into victory.
Toto Wolff described it as Mercedes' "worst weekend of the season", mainly due to Russell's retirement which he stated was "not acceptable". But, in terms of outright pace, Mercedes were surprisingly outperformed by Red Bull and Lord puts it down to multiple factors. "The combination potentially of updates, track temperature and track surface caused an interaction and a set of behaviours that meant the car was not in its usual happy state, that the drivers were having to turn the car on the throttle in the slow corners," he explained.
"That was further exacerbating the challenges with tyre temperatures. "That's not an easy thing to unpick. It's a bit of a 3D problem that we need to work through and then figure out exactly what steps we take going forward to make sure that we've got the base understanding that we need to understand that the update is working well and that we're heading in the right direction in our development, not just for this year's car but for next year as well.
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