Three penalties for George Russell/Mercedes: Now out of the running against Antonelli?

One man’s misfortune is another’s good fortune: at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit, Englishman George Russell was forced to retire due to engine failure.

Penalty number 1: zero points instead of 18th place. His deficit to World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli has thus increased to 84 points.

Penalty number 2: Due to the engine failure, the 2022 and 2025 World Championship runner-up needs a new power unit, meaning he will be relegated to the back of the grid. Meanwhile, the young Antonelli is likely to be comfortably settled in the first two rows of the grid.

Penalty number 3: George Russell will compete in Singapore with the old car configuration that Mercedes had been using up until the Bahrain Grand Prix. Kimi Antonelli, on the other hand, will be using the new Evo package. Mercedes hopes to learn more about the new parts in this way.

The Italian in Singapore: “We firmly believe that the new parts offer more potential. So, naturally, I was in favour of driving this version.”

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Interestingly, Russell doesn’t see driving the familiar race car as a penalty at all. The driver, who has competed in 168 Grand Prix races, says: “I’d already raised this discussion before the race in Malaysia. And when I had to retire due to engine failure, I said straight away – we need to drive different versions in Singapore to learn more.”

“There were no signs for us that the upgrade wouldn’t work. And we know that the car we had in Baku was the same car we had in Budapest and Zandvoort; in Baku we were on pole by eight-tenths, and in Budapest we were four-tenths behind the fastest.”

“What I’m trying to say is this: these fluctuations – even with a consistent race car and rivals running identical set-ups – are drastic, but by no means unusual this season. We’re confident that our problems in Malaysia were track-specific.”

“Red Bull Racing were considerably stronger than expected in Malaysia, if we look at the season so far and how they’ve fared against their rivals. Our pace – compared to McLaren and Ferrari – wasn’t out of the ordinary.”

“The grid penalty for fitting the new engine is a good opportunity to compare two different versions of the Mercedes, and I’m perfectly happy to race with the car I won with in Baku.”