Russell takes a Singapore grid penalty as the FIA reveals the cause of the Sepang software failures

[Cobalt Pilgrim]

George Russell will start the Singapore Grand Prix with a grid penalty, RacingNews365 reports, and he expects another one later in the season. His Mercedes power unit failed late in the race at Sepang, where team mate Kimi Antonelli finished second. Speaking at Singapore media day, Russell denied the engine had been overused. He said it was only the sixth race for that engine, and that it had been fitted on the Sunday in Budapest

Mercedes had hoped to delay the penalty until it could fit an upgraded unit. The team qualifies for one under the FIA's Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system, known as ADUO, because its engine ranked below Red Bull's on the official performance index. Russell said the plan had been to take the penalty with the ADUO update, but the failure forced it to happen in Singapore instead. With seven races left, that is longer than the engines are designed to last, so he will need another penalty at some point

His mood summed it up. Russell said it feels a little like one thing after another right now, but that is just how the cookie crumbles. Taking a penalty at Marina Bay is painful, because overtaking there is so hard. He will need a good strategy and some luck with safety cars

Meanwhile, Motorsport Week reports that the FIA has finished its investigation into the software problem that caused several cars to slow or stop on the formation lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix, which this year was held at Sepang. The FIA traced the fault to software settings that teams use to reduce power in wet conditions. Cars running at low revs in sectors with a 250kW power reduction lost more power than intended and could not get it back in those sectors. The FIA will bring back the configuration used at Sepang for Singapore if similar wet weather is expected

A further wet weather software update will arrive for the United States Grand Prix on 25 October, and the FIA says it will continue to strengthen power unit software testing with the teams, engine makers and the standard ECU supplier. It also rejected claims the software was untested, saying teams and engine makers ran simulation exercises beforehand. The software was then tested in full scale running during first practice at the Belgian and Dutch Grands Prix. Esteban Ocon had joked about a Windows restart, while Carlos Sainz said those behind the new rules should have a hard look at themselves

Can Russell salvage points from the back in Singapore? And are the 2026 power unit rules creating too many problems?

George Russell confirms double punishment blow after agonising Mercedes failureracingnews365.com