Toto Wolff has confirmed George Russell will indeed be taking an engine penalty for the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend. This means the Briton will be starting Sunday’s race from the very back of the grid after he was forced to retire on lap 50 of last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
With his fourth power unit of the season giving up at the end of the race in Malaysia, Russell now faces a challenging race on Sunday under the lights of Singapore. And this couldn’t come at the worst time, with his DNF now separating him even further from championship leader Kimi Antonelli in the standings.
Sat 84 points behind his team-mate, Russell has all-but given up on his title chances this year.
After what was generally a difficult weekend for both cars in Malaysia, Wolff is keen to put this frustration behind him and focus on maximising the opportunities a sprint weekend offers.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images
“George has the added challenge of a power unit penalty, which will mean starting from the back of the grid on Sunday, following the engine failure in Malaysia,” he said. “That is particularly frustrating given the way he drove last weekend and the result he deserved to be fighting for.
“Unfortunately, these things are part of the sport and our focus now is on giving him the best possible car and opportunities to fight back through the field. We need to maximise this final Sprint weekend of the year, keep learning, and score the strongest result we can with both cars.
“Singapore will be an important test of our understanding and our resilience as a team.”
The Singapore Grand Prix features a narrow street circuit layout with plenty of tight, slow corners. Paired with its low grip and dusty surface, this makes overtaking difficult. Add on the physical demands of yet another high temperature circuit, Russell has a difficult weekend ahead of him.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Team
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
