George Russell’s dwindling championship hopes have been dealt a further blow as Mercedes confirmed he will start this week’s Singapore Grand Prix from the rear of the grid.
Russell’s heartbreaking power-unit failure in the closing stages of Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia left him a whopping 84 points adrift of team-mate Kimi Antonelli with just seven rounds left to run.
The British driver conceded that hopes of a maiden title are now “exceptionally unlikely”.
And his slender chances of a turnaround have been dealt another setback. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff confirmed the 28-year-old will need to take a new power unit this weekend, putting Russell over the limit on several components, which will see him penalised on the Marina Bay Circuit.
The penalty will, though, only be applied to Sunday’s Grand Prix and not the sprint race on Saturday.
“Malaysia was obviously a very difficult weekend for us,” Wolff said on the Mercedes team website.
“We have spent the days since then working hard to understand why our performance was not where it should have been.
“We have identified several areas we need to investigate further, but F1 doesn’t offer simple answers and we need more evidence before drawing firm conclusions.
“Singapore gives us an immediate opportunity to continue that work. The characteristics of the circuit are very different and that will help us build a clearer picture of where we are.
“That is why we will evaluate both the latest update package and our previous specification across the weekend to ensure we fully understand the direction we need to take.”
Wolff added: “George has the added challenge of a power-unit penalty, which will mean starting from the back of the grid on Sunday, following the engine failure in Malaysia.
“That is particularly frustrating given the way he drove last weekend and the result he deserved to be fighting for.
“Unfortunately, these things are part of the sport and our focus now is on giving him the best possible car and opportunities to fight back through the field.”
Antonelli won the Italian Grand Prix last month having taken a similar penalty and Russell will need something similarly miraculous.
Speaking after the mishap in Malaysia, Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord says his outfit are unsure what caused their latest issue 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."
PA
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