Russell takes grid penalty in Singapore

George Russell will start Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix from the back of the grid after being hit with a penalty for fitting a new engine beyond his permitted number for the season.

Another penalty coming soon

Russell says he will take a second grid penalty this season when a planned engine upgrade is ready, as he needs seven more races but only has four engines permitted annually.

“You get (a limit of) four engines a season, so six races on each, and we have seven races to the end. So I will be taking another penalty, so yeah it's pretty relentless at the moment.”

Malaysia failure forced Singapore penalty

Russell's engine failure in Malaysia scuppered Mercedes' plan for him to use his older engine until the upgrade was ready, most likely for the United States Grand Prix in Austin.

Singapore was not the plan

Russell says he would never have chosen to take the penalty at Singapore, the second hardest track to overtake on the calendar, but had no alternative engine available after his failure.

“The plan was always to go in Austin, and obviously Singapore is the second hardest track to overtake on on the calendars. So you would never choose to do it (here).”

Mercedes splits car specifications

Russell will revert to the older car specification he won with in Azerbaijan, while team-mate Kimi Antonelli runs the new aerodynamic upgrade introduced in Malaysia that failed to deliver expected performance.

Testing the Malaysia upgrade

Mercedes is using Singapore to determine whether Malaysia's poor performance was due to track-specific issues or a problem with the upgrade itself, with Russell driving the proven older specification.

“It's not like reverting back to a launch car.”

Antonelli's championship lead extends

Russell's retirement in Malaysia and Antonelli finishing second to Max Verstappen means the Italian's lead in the drivers' championship has extended to eighty four points.

Russell blames reliability over performance

Russell says he has suffered more engine failures this year than in his previous three seasons combined, and believes reliability issues have disproportionately affected his championship fight.

“I've probably had more failures this year than I've had in the three seasons put together, and of course it's tough to take.”