The Athletic has reported that George Russell is set to take a 10-place grid penalty at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix after his Sepang retirement with a sudden power unit failure while running third under the safety car with five laps to go. Per the source report, Russell now needs a new engine for Marina Bay and has already used four power units this season, triggering the 10-place drop for any additional change.
Why now matters
The source says Singapore’s street layout makes overtaking notoriously difficult, raising the stakes if Russell starts deep in the pack. It also notes Russell enters the weekend 84 points behind championship-leading teammate Kimi Antonelli.
Antonelli’s contrasting precedent
According to the same report, Antonelli took a similar penalty at Monza in September and still won the Italian Grand Prix from 19th on the grid—passing Russell on the way. The source frames Mercedes’ season-long strain on power units as a theme, citing multiple reliability issues.
Reliability squeeze at Mercedes
The report lists recent setbacks: an engine failure for Antonelli late in Barcelona, and power unit problems that forced Russell to retire from the lead in Montreal—as well as the Sepang failure that prompted this penalty scenario.
The upgrade plan that slipped
The piece states Mercedes hoped to delay the penalty to a later round—most likely Austin—to align it with an engine built under the new-for-2026 Additional Upgrades and Opportunities System (ADUO). The source adds that Mercedes has one ADUO upgrade token it expects to deploy soon, and that Russell and the team wanted to take the penalty when that ADUO engine was fitted. After Sepang, the article says this may no longer be possible.
What Mercedes said
Deputy team principal Bradley Lord is quoted describing the Sepang failure sequence: “He came on the radio behind the safety car and said ‘PU’s starting to sound funny’. We saw sensors then misbehaving and it was clear we had to pull the car over and we’d had a failure of some sort.” Lord added that the team still needed “to understand what it means for his pool because he’s not rich in low-mileage power units either,” noting the situation “may mean we need to alter what had been our previous plan.”
All details above are based on the source report’s account and quotes.
