George Russell looked set to rescue a difficult Bahrain Grand Prix weekend for Mercedes before a late power unit failure dealt another significant blow to his Formula One title hopes.
Starting seventh at Sepang, Russell made a superb getaway to climb to second behind team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Mercedes briefly occupied the top two positions after Antonelli had also jumped from third into the lead, capitalising on poor starts for pole-sitter Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
The order didn’t last. Verstappen recovered to pass Russell on lap six before eventually taking the lead, while Antonelli later found his way back ahead of his team-mate.
Russell was nevertheless running third and on course for a valuable podium when his Mercedes stopped on lap 50, during the closing stages of a safety car period.
Wolff confirms Russell power unit failure
Speaking to Sky Sports F1, as quoted by Motorsport.com, Toto Wolff confirmed the nature of the problem while making clear Mercedes had yet to establish precisely why it happened.
“It’s a power unit failure. It wasn’t caused by the safety car. We haven’t assessed it yet,” the Mercedes team principal said.
Wolff made little attempt to disguise his frustration after seeing a likely double podium reduced to Antonelli’s second place.
“I’m so massively annoyed, and not in a happy place,” he said.
Mercedes had already struggled to find the pace it expected from its upgrade package during the weekend, leaving Wolff concerned even before Russell’s retirement. Verstappen ultimately beat Antonelli by 2.307 seconds, with Hamilton recovering to take third for Ferrari.
Wolff described the afternoon as “one of my worst experiences”, pointing both to Mercedes’ lack of pace and the points lost through Russell’s retirement.
Russell was similarly downbeat, telling reporters he was “beyond disappointment” after suffering his third retirement of the season.
Russell’s title hopes suffer another blow
The failure was particularly costly because Antonelli continued to score heavily.
His second-place finish took him to 320 points at the top of the drivers’ championship, continuing a remarkable campaign we have followed in our closer look at Antonelli’s rapid development.
Russell remains second on 236 after leaving Sepang empty-handed, while Hamilton’s podium moved him to 214, just 22 points behind the Mercedes driver.
| Position | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Kimi Antonelli | 320 |
| 2nd | George Russell | 236 |
| 3rd | Lewis Hamilton | 214 |
Antonelli’s advantage over Russell has therefore grown to 84 points with seven Grands Prix remaining. Russell conceded after the race that challenging his team-mate for the championship is now “exceptionally unlikely”.
That makes the manner of the retirement particularly painful. Russell had done much of the difficult work by turning seventh on the grid into a podium position on a chaotic afternoon and was only a handful of laps from banking another significant haul.
It was also a very different ending to a Malaysian weekend that had begun with Russell being left lost for words by a handmade gift from local supporters.
Instead, Mercedes left Malaysia with Antonelli’s second place and another reliability problem to investigate before the championship moves on to Singapore.
For Wolff, the concern now extends beyond a single retirement. Mercedes have suffered four DNFs between their two cars this season, and continued reliability problems could prove costly over the remaining races.
Russell’s drive deserved considerably more than it ultimately delivered. With his championship hopes now fading, Mercedes cannot afford many more afternoons like this one.
