Sportsupdated 1h ago3 min read
Mercedes Confirms George Russell Power Unit Penalty Sends Him To Back Of Singapore Grid
George Russell to start Singapore GP from back of grid after engine change. Penalty due to Malaysia Sepang engine failure that ended his Bahrain race.
17 outlets told this the same way.
Russell penalized in Singapore
George Russell will start from the back of the grid in Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix after Mercedes confirmed he needs a new power unit following his retirement in Malaysia. Toto Wolff said Russell's setback was "particularly frustrating given the way he drove last weekend and the result he deserved to be fighting for," while Mercedes said the engine penalty will apply to Sunday's Grand Prix and not the sprint race on Saturday. Mercedes said Russell qualified in eighth and was heading for a podium finish before an engine failure forced him to retire from third place with five laps remaining in the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia last Sunday.
Kimi Antonelli took a big leap towards his first Formula 1 world title after Russell's retirement, with Antonelli now 84 points ahead of his Mercedes team-mate. Mercedes said Russell's title hopes are effectively over with either six or seven races still to go, depending on whether F1 gets the security reassurances it needs for Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Wolff explains the decision
Toto Wolff told reporters that Mercedes had spent the days since last Sunday "working hard to understand why our performance was not where it should have been," after Russell's power-unit failure in the closing laps at Sepang. Wolff said Mercedes had "identified several areas" that must be investigated further before contesting the weekend's Grand Prix at the Marina Bay circuit. Craig Slater said on Sky Sports News that "This is not the place where you want to take a grid penalty because it is difficult to overtake in Singapore," linking the penalty to the challenge of scoring points.
Sky Sports said Russell's power-unit change would exceed the season allocation of four for each driver, which would incur a penalty that drops him to the rear of the grid. The Independent said Russell's hopes have been dealt another setback as Mercedes confirmed he will start from the rear of the grid on the Marina Bay Circuit, with the penalty applied only to Sunday's Grand Prix.
Title gap and next steps
Mercedes said Russell's engine penalty further reduces his ability to close the 84-point gap to Kimi Antonelli, with only seven races remaining and the Marina Bay street circuit offering few overtaking opportunities. France 24 said the penalty will be at least 10 grid positions, while Mercedes said the regulations specify a grid penalty will be imposed at the first event where each additional element over the quota is used. Motorsport.com said the penalty will be a minimum of 10 positions depending on the exact parts Mercedes switch out, and it said the penalty will only be applied to the Singapore Grand Prix scheduled for 2000 local time on Sunday, October 11.
The Independent quoted Wolff saying "Singapore gives us an immediate opportunity to continue that work," as Mercedes planned to evaluate both the latest update package and its previous specification across the weekend. AP said the power unit penalty could result in Antonelli extending his lead in the Formula 1 drivers' standings, with Wolff announcing Russell would start from the back of the grid on Sunday after the engine failure in Malaysia.