George Russell qualified P6 for the 2026 F1 Singapore GP, but will start from the back of the grid due to an engine penalty carried over from his retirement in Malaysia. The Briton set a 1:31.747 in Q3. The mechanics rebuilt the car in time for qualifying following his Sprint Race crash, though Russell admitted it did not feel the same as it had on Friday. Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff also addressed the crash after the session.
Russell on a difficult day at the 2026 F1 Singapore GP
Russell was direct about where the problems began. His crash in the Sprint Race set the tone for the rest of the day, and even once the car was rebuilt, it did not respond the way it had on Friday. He identified rear instability and tyre overheating as the main issues through qualifying.
“It was a very bad day all in all, stemming from my own mistake. The objective of the quali was to make sure the car was feeling the same as it did yesterday. For whatever reason it wasn’t, which is not sometimes a surprise when the whole team are putting it back together so quickly. It’s obviously been in the wall, but yesterday we were competitive every lap we did and today was not the case,” Russell stated.
Russell on the two-spec Mercedes and what qualifying for the Singapore GP showed
Russell discussed whether qualifying had provided clearer answers on the two-spec situation. He welcomed Antonelli’s stronger showing but remained measured about what it meant for the package overall.
“I mean it was positive to see Kimi more competitive today than yesterday. However, we weren’t exactly lighting the timing screen on fire, so as a team we’re still not satisfied with where we are with the new package. I think we need to make some adjustments to compensate those changes, so maybe we can find a way to make it work and be faster. But right now we need more time.”
Russell on what is realistic from the back of the grid
Russell was asked what a realistic Sunday looks like from the back. Singapore is notoriously difficult for overtaking. He pointed to contrasting recent experiences for his teammate starting from the rear and offered no firm prediction.
“I mean, hoping into the points. It’s going to be very challenging. I mean, Kimi just had one race starting in 19th and won and another race in 16th and was only up to P10 with 10 laps remaining or whatever. So same driver, same car, but very different outcomes. So, can’t answer your question, I really don’t know.”
Russell also explained what specifically limited his qualifying performance at the 2026 F1 Singapore GP beyond the Sprint rebuild itself. He pointed to a car that simply would not behave.
“Well, just the car didn’t feel quite the same. I was struggling with the rear end and then I was overheating my tyres and it was just a bit of a downward spiral, whereas yesterday it all just clicked and it was all working well, so we need to see why that was,” Russell concluded.
Wolff on Russell’s Sprint Race crash ahead of 2026 F1 Singapore GP Qualifying
Toto Wolff addressed the Sprint crash with Sky Sports F1 and its consequences for Russell’s qualifying session. He praised the mechanics for rebuilding the car, but he suspected the rushed job left sensors missing, affecting how the car felt.
“Yeah, complicated, because we had two different cars running, I must say that the mechanics did an unbelievable job in putting the car together, but maybe at the end we didn’t have all of the sensors on the car, and it didn’t feel as good as it did before, so George did a really good job, and on Kimi’s side, the updates seem to have worked now, him and his engineers have dialled out the problems, and we got closer and closer, and eventually we’re missing a tenth and a half or two tenths, and that is at least for qualifying positive,” Wolff stated.
Wolff said Mercedes needed more data from Sunday’s race before drawing firm conclusions about the upgraded package. “Well, it will take some more proof of concept until I’m feeling warm and fuzzy, but we will have more data tomorrow in the race, whether we can have less degradation.”
Wolff acknowledged the crash was out of character for Russell.
“When I saw the yellow coming out, I didn’t think it was him, because I couldn’t imagine that George would do such a mistake. Because it happened for a long time, actually the last one was in Singapore, I think in the race with Lewis maybe, so that’s very, very unusual, fair enough, you know, the power kicked in at the moment where he didn’t expect it and he was on the white line, running first is always tricky, because you’re looking how fast you can go through the corners, so not at all George can happen,” Wolff concluded.
