Additional blow for Russell due to the "power unit"

Russell was forced to retire last Sunday just laps before the end of the Bahrain Grand Prix held at Malaysia's Sepang Circuit due to the situation in the Middle East, costing him at least a third-place finish and leaving him trailing championship leader Antonelli by 84 points after the Italian finished second in Malaysia.

Consequently, Russell left empty-handed for the third race this season, compounding his frustration.

Russell was scheduled to receive a new engine later in the season, but the damage sustained in Malaysia forced the team to bring forward the change to the Singapore Grand Prix.

As a result, Russell will exceed the permitted limit of power unit components during the season, subjecting him to a penalty.

The penalty will be a minimum of ten places on the starting grid, depending on the components the team replaces. In other words, the more new parts used, the heavier the penalty.

According to Mercedes, this will mean Russell starting from the back of the grid.

The penalty will apply only to Sunday's main Singapore Grand Prix and not the "Sprint" race scheduled for Saturday, giving Russell an additional opportunity to score valuable points.

The team's Austrian boss Toto Wolff said: "The weekend in Malaysia was very difficult for us. We spent the days following the race working hard to understand the reasons why our performance was not at the level it should be."

He added: "We have identified several areas that we need to study more deeply, but Formula 1 does not offer simple answers, and we need more evidence before reaching definitive conclusions."

He continued: "Singapore gives us an immediate opportunity to continue this work. The track characteristics are completely different, and this will help us form a clearer picture of our situation."

He explained: "That is why we will evaluate the latest upgrade package and previous specifications over the weekend, to ensure a complete understanding of the direction we need to take."

He considered that "George faces an additional challenge in the form of the power unit penalty, meaning he will start Sunday's race from the back of the grid following the engine failure in Malaysia. This is particularly frustrating given the way he drove last week and the result he deserved to fight for."

What happened in Malaysia is the latest episode in a series of reliability issues faced by the Mercedes car during the 2026 season, as Russell had previously retired from the Canadian Grand Prix due to a power unit failure, while Antonelli suffered a similar issue in Barcelona.

The Italian was forced to make an engine change during this year's Monza race, but Mercedes specifically chose that track for the overtaking opportunities it provides, which helped him charge from 19th place to win the race.

As for Singapore's narrow streets and close walls, they will make the task much more complicated for Russell, though his victory there last season may give him a morale boost to fight his way into the top ten.