George Russell will start the Singapore Grand Prix from the back of the grid after Mercedes confirmed a power unit penalty, following the engine failure that forced him to retire from the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
Wolff confirms grid penalty
Mercedes team president Toto Wolff confirmed the penalty, explaining that the new power unit will drop Russell to the back of the grid for Sunday's race around Marina Bay. Wolff described the situation as "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," Wolff said. "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."
Team investigates Malaysia performance
Reflecting on Sepang, Wolff said the weekend was "obviously a very difficult weekend for us." He noted that the team has spent the days since working to understand why performance was not where it should have been.
"We have identified several areas we need to investigate further, but F1 doesn't offer simple answers, and we need more evidence before drawing firm conclusions," Wolff said. "Singapore gives us an immediate opportunity to continue that work."
Wolff added that the circuit's characteristics are "very different," which should help the team build a clearer picture. He confirmed Mercedes will evaluate both the latest update package and the previous specification across the weekend to fully understand the direction needed.
