Russell to start U.S. GP from pit lane after crash

George Russell will start the United States Grand Prix from the pit lane due to Mercedes having to change his specification of car after a qualifying crash.

Russell lost control at the penultimate corner and spun into the barrier at high speed during the final runs of Q3, damaging the right hand side of his car. Mercedes had brought an upgrade to Austin but with teams often limited on how many spares they have when it comes to new parts, the team was unable to replace everything in an identical specification. Russell has had to revert to the specification that Mercedes ran in Singapore as a result.

More Formula 1

Brown says Horner F1 return would be a positive, more A-B teams not so much

What the revised Formula 1 regulations are predicted to achieve in Miami

Piastri says Verstappen departure would be ‘not a great look’ but Norris thinks he’ll stay

Changing the specification of the car after qualifying has started is a breach of parc fermé regulations, and Mercedes also had to work during the time that cars are supposed to be covered due to the amount of damage that had been caused. Those infringements mean Russell will have to start from the pit lane.

Russell had originally qualified in sixth place, meaning all of the drivers behind the top five of Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri are promoted a position. Pierre Gasly will now start from sixth for Alpine.