George Russell is facing at least one grid penalty later in the season after Mercedes were forced into an unplanned change at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Brit raced with a fresh power unit at the Hungaroring after Russell was told to stop the car at the end of qualifying a day earlier because a water leak had been detected in the data. Instead of returning to the Mercedes garage, Russell was told to pull over to limit the damage done. However, once the car was taken back to the pit lane, Silver Arrows staff soon discovered a crack in the engine sump which forced them into an unplanned change ahead of the Grand Prix.
Engine change impacts performance
It was far from ideal at the time. The tight Hungaroring track is not nearly as power-hungry as other circuits on the Formula 1 calendar and so Russell did not get as much benefit out of the new engine as he would have at other venues. Plus, his terrible launch off the line after the new engine slipped into anti-stall mode dropped him to 19th and forced him into a recovery drive, rather than making any progress forwards.
But more misery looks to be on the way with Mercedes' reliability struggles coming back to bite them in the second half of the season. The new engine used in Hungary was Russell's fourth of the season, the final one in his annual allowance. A fifth will incur automatic grid penalties.
Penalty likely inevitable
Given he is already on his allotted final power unit of the season, after just 11 rounds and with 12 more still scheduled, Russell's chances of avoiding penalties looks slim at best. Mercedes may yet be able to repair his damaged engine from Hungary, but even then his odds of getting to the end of the year without needed a new one are not short.
Frustratingly, the situation has taken away the one advantage Russell still had over teenage team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who heads into this summer break at the top of the championship and 59 points ahead of the Brit, having secured six Grand Prix victories versus Russell's two.
Antonelli is also on his fourth engine of the year, having moved onto that final allotted power unit at Spa-Francorchamps earlier this month. Grid penalties unavoidable for him too and, if Russell had been able to hold on to that previous engine for a few more race weekends, then he might have been able to guarantee that there would be at least one race weekend that his title rival is hampered by a significant grid drop, while he is free to start where he qualifies.
But unless Mercedes can repair that damaged sump, that advantage has disappeared. Instead, it may now come to a tactical battle between the two racers when it comes to deciding where and when to pull the trigger on new, penalty-inducing engine parts.
