George Russell reveals key details about the Mercedes power unit that suffered a failure in the F1 Bahrain GP in Malaysia
George Russell believes the Mercedes engine that failed in Malaysia during the Bahrain GP had not reached the end of its life. Speaking to media, including VisionF1, the Briton reckoned that he could potentially face another engine penalty later in the season.
Russell’s engine failed at the Sepang circuit, marking his second engine failure of the season. His first came while he was leading the race in Canada. He was due to take an engine penalty during the Asian triple-header, but the Malaysian engine failure has forced Mercedes to bring forward the penalty to the Singapore GP. Ahead of the weekend, Mercedes confirmed that Russell will take a new engine, meaning he will start the race from the back of the grid.
Russell claims the power unit used in Malaysia had completed six races. Under the FIA regulations, drivers are allowed to use four engines during the season before grid penalties are applied for exceeding their allocation. His teammate Kimi Antonelli took an engine penalty in Monza after Mercedes installed a brand-new power unit that exceeded his seasonal component allocation.
Manufacturers are allowed to upgrade their engines under the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities [ADUO] provision if their power units are deemed to be lacking performance. Red Bull are the only team unable to upgrade their engine because their power unit is considered the benchmark on the grid. Russell had hoped to benefit from an ADUO upgrade later in the season, but the power unit failure in Malaysia has forced Mercedes to bring forward the change for Singapore. The Briton also suggested that he could face another engine penalty at some point between the Singapore GP and the season finale.
Asked by Vision F1 if the engine he used in Malaysia had stretched to its limit, George Russell replied:
“No, and the engine wasn’t stretched too long. It was the sixth race of the engine and obviously you have 4 engines here. 6 races per engine. When you when you split it up, we actually put that engine in on Sunday in Budapest, so it was actually, you know, it was the sixth race for minus qualifying at the practice sessions of Budapest. We were waiting to take the engine penalty with the ADUO update. But obviously, unfortunately, we’ve had to take it here, but with seven races remaining, that’s longer than the engines are designed for.”
“Unfortunately, it means I’ll be taking another penalty at some point between next race and the end of season. So, yeah, there’s a little bit one thing after another right now, but that’s just how the cookie crumbles.”
George Russell will drive a older spec Mercedes in Singapore
George Russell confirmed that he will revert to an older specification of the Mercedes chassis for the 2026 Singapore GP. He revealed that he had suggested the change in Malaysia, and following the power unit failure, it became inevitable that Mercedes would revert to the older chassis. Mercedes will therefore be running different chassis specifications for their two drivers in Singapore. Kimi Antonelli confirmed to on-site media that he will continue with the upgraded chassis.
Mercedes brought a heavily upgraded chassis to Malaysia, where both drivers had contrasting performances. Russell qualified eighth, while his teammate Kimi Antonelli managed fourth in qualifying. In Malaysia, both Red Bull and Ferrari appeared stronger than Mercedes in terms of both one-lap and race pace. Russell believes this could have been track-specific, making it difficult to assess the progress made with the upgrades. He also felt that Mercedes’ lack of performance at Sepang was linked to the circuit characteristics, which made it harder to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the new package. For Singapore, the engine failure prompted Russell to revert to the older-specification chassis, which he used to win the Azerbaijan GP.
Asked about his involvement in the decision and conversations of reverting to the older chassis, George Russell said:
“Well actually I instigated that conversation prior to the race on Sunday. So when the failure happened, it was kind of a no brainer. Because we were kind of 50-50 about it pre-race, and I was more in favour to do it and that was pre race. Whereas now, it just it is a total no-brainer.”
Explaining the progress made with the upgrades and the switch to the older chassis, George Russell said:
“There’s no signs telling us the upgrade was not working, and we know the car we had in Baku was the same car as we had in Budapest and Zandvoort, and in Baku we were on pole by eight tenths, and in Budapest we were four tenths off the pace. Those fluctuations, even with a consistent car and your rivals with the same car, are drastic, you have a fluctuation of plus or minus one second, it can be that delta. So we’re pretty confident it’s a Malaysia specific.”
“When you look at the pace of Red Bull as well, they clearly overperformed compared to where they’ve been this season, compared to all of the other teams. When you look at our pace compared to McLaren and Ferrari, it wasn’t too dissimilar, it wasn’t massively out of step. This engine penalty this weekend has given us a good opportunity to roll back, it’s the car that I won in Baku with.”
George Russell is currently second in the drivers’ championship with 236 points, but he is 84 points behind his teammate Kimi Antonelli, who has 320 points. He is also being closely challenged by Lewis Hamilton, who is just 22 points behind him with seven rounds remaining on the calendar. Mercedes are comfortably leading the constructors’ championship with 556 points. They are 151 points ahead of Ferrari, 240 points ahead of McLaren and 258 points ahead of Red Bull Racing.
