George Russell is expected to start the Singapore Grand Prix from the back of the grid after Mercedes were forced into a fresh power-unit change following his retirement in Malaysia, according to Sky Sports News.
The British driver stopped late in the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang while running third. His retirement came as Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli finished second behind Max Verstappen, extending Antonelli’s lead over Russell in the drivers’ championship to 84 points with seven rounds left.
Sky Sports News reported that Russell is due to take a new power unit during the Singapore weekend. The change would take him beyond the seasonal allocation of four power units and bring a grid penalty that is expected to place him at the rear for Sunday’s race.
The development adds another setback to Russell’s attempt to reduce the gap to Antonelli. He lost a possible podium finish in Malaysia when the failure ended his race, and a rearward starting position at Marina Bay would leave him with a difficult recovery task in the next round.
Mercedes investigate Bahrain failure
Mercedes have not yet identified the exact cause of the issue that sidelined Russell. Deputy team principal Bradley Lord said the team had recovered the car and completed an initial inspection, which pointed to a mechanical failure on the power-unit side.
Lord said further work was required to establish the root cause. That uncertainty means the Bahrain retirement remains more than an isolated race result for Mercedes, because the resulting component change is now expected to have an immediate sporting cost in Singapore.
Crash also reported that Russell had exhausted his available low-mileage components and that the damage sustained in Malaysia had left Mercedes needing to introduce a fresh unit. Its report said the team were expected to confirm the precise elements being changed before Friday practice.
Sky Sports News reported that Mercedes had originally expected Russell to take a new power unit at the United States Grand Prix later in the season. That unit was expected to include an upgrade available through the FIA’s Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system. The report said the upgraded unit could instead be accelerated for use in Singapore, potentially avoiding another penalty later in the campaign.
Whether the upgraded specification is ready in time remains a matter for Mercedes to determine. The firm fact at this stage is that the anticipated replacement is expected to exceed Russell’s permitted allocation, with the associated penalty set to affect his Grand Prix grid position.
A difficult circuit for a recovery drive
Singapore presents a different challenge from a conventional penalty-taking opportunity. Sky Sports said overtaking at the Marina Bay Street Circuit is among the most difficult on the calendar, while Crash described the narrow, high-downforce venue as a daunting place from which to start at the rear.
That does not determine Russell’s finishing position, but it raises the importance of Mercedes making the most of each session and avoiding further complications. Russell will have a Sprint weekend before the Grand Prix, though Sky Sports said the expected back-of-grid start applies only to Sunday’s race and not Saturday’s Sprint.
Mercedes arrive after what team principal Toto Wolff described, according to Sky Sports, as their worst weekend of the season. The team had introduced a substantial aerodynamic package at Sepang, but Russell’s retirement denied them a potential double podium and the car was outpaced by Verstappen’s Red Bull.
Lord said Mercedes believed a combination of its updates, track temperature and surface conditions had contributed to the W17 not operating in its usual range in Malaysia. He said the drivers had needed to turn the car on the throttle in slower corners, adding to tyre-temperature difficulties.
Those performance questions are separate from Russell’s mechanical problem, but both will shape Mercedes’ Singapore workload. Antonelli’s second place in Malaysia gave him a substantial championship cushion, while Russell now faces the prospect of trying to limit the damage from the back of the Sunday grid.