George Russell’s penalty confirmed! Mercedes boss Wolff: “He has to start from the back”

This is a real blow for eight-time Grand Prix winner George Russell: following engine failure at the Bahrain Grand Prix, the 28-year-old needs a new power unit and will therefore have to start the Singapore Grand Prix from the back of the grid.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said in his preview of the Singapore Grand Prix: “George faces the added challenge of a power unit penalty in Singapore, which means he’ll have to start from the very back on Sunday following the engine failure in Malaysia.”

“That’s particularly frustrating given how he drove last weekend and the result he was fighting for. Unfortunately, these things are part and parcel of the sport, and our focus now is on giving him the best possible car and the best chance to fight his way back through the field.”

The 54-year-old Austrian added: “Malaysia was obviously a very difficult weekend for us. We’ve spent the days since then working hard to understand why our performance wasn’t where it should have been. We’ve identified several areas that we need to investigate further, but Formula 1 offers no easy answers and we need more evidence before we can draw any firm conclusions.”

“Singapore gives us an immediate opportunity to continue this work. The characteristics of the circuit are very different from other tracks, and that will help us get a clearer picture of where we stand. That’s why we’ll be evaluating both the latest update package and our previous specification over the weekend to ensure we fully understand the direction we need to take.”

Topic of the week

A stuttering start to the Bahrain Grand Prix: the FIA narrowly avoids a fiasco like the one in Indianapolis in 2005

Fans could hardly believe their eyes at what they witnessed at the Bahrain Grand Prix: cars crawling along, racing cars that simply came to a standstill. The FIA narrowly avoided a fiasco like the one at Indy in 2005.

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“We need to make the most of this final sprint weekend of the year, continue to learn and achieve the best possible result with both cars. Singapore will be an important test of our understanding and resilience as a team.”