George Russell faces back-of-grid start in Singapore and expects more engine penalties this season

Mercedes driver George Russell will start Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix from the back of the grid after being forced to fit a new engine that takes him beyond his permitted season limit. Russell is currently 84 points behind Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the drivers' championship following a late-race engine failure in Malaysia.

More Penalties Ahead

Drivers are allowed four engines per season to cover all races. Russell stated that because there are seven races left and only four engines allowed, he will have to take another penalty when a planned upgrade is ready later in the year. He explained that Singapore is the second hardest track on the calendar to overtake on, so the team would never choose to take a penalty here, but they had no earlier engines left to use.

Car Specification Split

Mercedes is also splitting the setup of their cars this weekend to test an aerodynamic upgrade introduced in Malaysia that did not deliver the expected pace. While team-mate Kimi Antonelli will run the new upgrade, Russell is reverting to the older specification car he drove to victory in Azerbaijan. Russell noted that since a podium finish is exceptionally unlikely from the back of the grid, testing the car specifications is more important to find out if Malaysia was a one-off track issue or a problem with the upgrade itself.

Context

Formula 1 teams face strict limits on engine components each season to control costs and ensure fairness, with exceeding these limits triggering automatic grid penalties. Testing older car setups against newer ones is a common strategy when a team experiences unexpected drops in track performance.