George Russell’s F1 title comeback gets tougher

| Getty Images George Russell was already facing a steep hill in his comeback effort in the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship chase. But circumstances have become that much tougher for the Mercedes driver. Russell’s dominant performance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix sparked a potential comeback charge, as his win pulled him to within 66 points of teammate Kimi Antonelli at the top of the F1 Drivers’ Championship standings. But last weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, Russell’s W17 suffered a power unit failure in the closing laps, leading to his second retirement of the season. Russell retired from the lead at the Canadian Grand Prix earlier this season. At the time of his retirement in Malaysia, Russell was running third with five laps to go. Now Russell trails Antonelli, who finished second in Malaysia, by 84 points, with seven race weekends remaining on the schedule. And with two of those races being the Qatar Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, races that are in doubt due to ongoing hostilities in the Middle East, time is running out. However, there is an added consequence to the failure in Malaysia. Russell has already used the allotted four power units in a season, meaning a new power unit would come with a grid drop at the start of the next race, the Singapore Grand Prix. Mercedes confirmed on Wednesday that indeed Russell will take the new power unit — and the penalty — in Singapore. “George has the added challenge of a power unit penalty, which will mean starting from the back of the grid on Sunday, following the engine failure in Malaysia,” said Team Principal Toto Wolff in the team’s media preview of the Singapore Grand Prix. “That is 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.” While there are circuits where a grid drop is not insurmountable, such as Monza where Antonelli took a new power unit and charged through the field to win the Italian Grand Prix after starting 19th, the tight Singapore street circuit sees overtaking come at a premium, making it unlikely that Russell could pull off something similar in Marina Bay. Reliability issues have hampered Russell this season, as he fought to pull closer to Antonelli in the standings. According to this analysis from the official F1 website, it is estimated that reliability issues this season have cost Russell around 56 points in the standings. Canada and Sepang along, where he was leading and running third, respectively, cost Russell 33 points. After Malaysia Russell all but conceded that the comeback was over. “I mean, you’ve almost got to laugh,” Russell told Sky Sports F1. “It’s, you know, beyond disappointment. It’s just so many times this season it’s happened. “Yeah, it’s a real shame. Of course it’s a real shame, but just keep on fighting, you know, just keep on trying to go. The podium, of course, looked very certain. Solid race, not amazing race, but solid race. Yeah, not the first time, so I’m pretty used to this feeling and these questions, let’s say.” Pressed on his title hopes, Russell outlined the “reality” of what he faces now. “I don’t need to say I think it’s gone or whatever, but of course it’s exceptionally unlikely, and that’s just the reality. I knew if I wanted to come back, I needed luck on my side. Unfortunately, I had luck not on my side,” continued Russell. “So, you know, a three-point loss today [if Russell had finished third] being behind Kimi turned into an 18-point loss. And of course, if he was on the other side, it would have been an 18-point gain.”

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