Mercedes F1 driver George Russell has opened up about his engine failure in Malaysia, incoming grid penalties, whether the W17’s latest upgrades are efficient, and him reverting to the older Baku specification heading into the 2026 Singapore GP weekend.
The Brackley-based outfit confirmed on Wednesday that the Brit will take on new power unit components in Singapore following his late-race retirement at Sepang. It marked his third non-scoring round of the season.
Despite emerging victorious at the Marina Bay Street Circuit last time around, Russell starting Sunday’s race from the back of the field means his gap to teammate Kimi Antonelli—who has extended his championship lead to 84 points in the Drivers’ standings—will potentially widen further.
Russell talks about his engine penalty for 2026 Singapore GP; reveals he’ll have to take one more
Speaking in a print media session ahead of the 2026 Singapore GP weekend, George Russell clarified whether his previous Mercedes engine had clocked up too much mileage to cause the power unit failure in Malaysia.
The 28-year-old referred to the baseline allocation of power unit components under the new regulations and admitted that he would’ve liked his grid drop to have coincided with Mercedes’s ADUO upgrade, which will reportedly arrive at COTA.
Russell also explained why he has to endure an additional grid penalty before the 2026 F1 season comes to a close.
“No, the engine wasn’t stretched too long. It was the sixth race of the engine and obviously you have four engines a year. Six races per engine, when you split it up.
“We actually put that engine in on Sunday in Budapest. So, it was the sixth race but minus qualifying and the practice sessions of Budapest.
“We were waiting to take 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 the season.
“So yeah, it feels a little bit one thing after another right now but that’s just how the cookie crumbles.”
Whether Mercedes’s Sepang upgrades are a failure
With Mercedes’s first big upgrade package since the Canadian GP falling short of delivering the expected performance boost at Sepang and how crucial it is to quickly determine whether to persist with the updates or roll back the specification, George Russell claimed that there’s no evidence yet of the upgrades being a failure.
Underlining how their pace had fluctuated in the past several rounds, the 8-time F1 race winner surmised that their relative underperformance in Malaysia was a track-specific issue.
Russell additionally disclosed that the 2026 Singapore GP will see Mercedes revert his W17 to the specification they had before aerodynamic updates arrived at Sepang last weekend.
“I think for any team, it’s always very important. However, there’s no signs telling us the upgrade was not working.
“We know the car we had in Baku was the same car as we had in Budapest and Zandvoort. In Baku, we were on pole by eight tenths, and in Budapest, we were four tenths off the pace.
“So, those fluctuations, even with a consistent car and your rivals with the same car, are drastic; you have a fluctuation, plus or minus one second can be that delta.
“So, we’re pretty confident it’s 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. And actually, when you look at our pace compared to McLaren and Ferrari, it wasn’t too dissimilar; it wasn’t massively out of bed.
“So, this engine penalty this weekend has given us a good opportunity to roll back. It’s the car that I won in Baku with. So, let’s see.”
Russell reveals whether he had a say in the decision to revert to the older specification for 2026 Singapore GP weekend
With regard to how involved he was in the conversations about reverting to the older specification and whether he is comfortable taking a step back for the benefit of the team, George Russell confirmed that Mercedes will split their drivers across the old and new packages for the 2026 Singapore GP weekend.
At the same time, the 12-time polesitter revealed that he was the one who had suggested carrying out the comparative running at Marina Bay ahead of Sunday’s race in Malaysia.
Russell mentioned that Mercedes were initially on the fence, despite his willingness to go back to the Baku specification for the seventeenth round of the 2026 F1 season. He added that his subsequent engine failure at Sepang made the decision straightforward.
“Well, actually, I instigated the 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 even pre-race, whereas now, it is a total no-brainer.”
