Toto Wolff confirms George Russell engine penalty for Singapore GP: "Particularly frustrating"

George Russell will start from the back of the grid at the Singapore Grand Prix due to an engine penalty. His team, Mercedes, confirmed that he has used up his allocation of four power units for the season, and a new one will be fitted, incurring a penalty. This comes after Russell retired from the Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend with a power unit problem while running in third place.

The penalty is a significant blow to Russell's Formula One world title hopes. According to the New Straits Times, he is now 84 points behind his teammate Kimi Antonelli, who leads the championship. Antonelli is on track to clinch the title with several races to spare, with six rounds scheduled after Singapore.

Russell and Mercedes had hoped to take the engine penalty at the US Grand Prix in Austin, which would have allowed them to introduce an engine upgrade. However, the team will now take the penalty this weekend in Singapore. The sprint race on Saturday will not be affected by the penalty, as engine penalties do not apply to that 100km race.

Brief written by urgent.news from Motorsport.com, New Straits Times, Free Malaysia Today — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.