Mercedes changes Russell’s power unit without penalty after qualifying issue

George Russell will use a new power unit for the Hungarian Grand Prix after a water leak forced him to stop on track at the end of qualifying, but has avoided a grid penalty.

Mercedes instructed Russell to stop on track at the end of his final attempt in Q3, with fluid visible underneath the car after he climbed out on the pit straight. The team has now confirmed a new power unit will be fitted that is the same specification as his previous engine, and is still within his permitted allocation at this stage.

“During George’s final lap in Q3, we detected a loss of water pressure on his car and instructed him to stop as a precaution once he had completed the lap,” a team spokesperson said. “Following further inspection, we have elected to change his power unit ahead of tomorrow’s race, moving to his fourth unit of the season and thus within his season allocation.”

Russell is due to start from seventh place, and says the leak was actually causing him to lose grip from the rear of his car during his lap.

“We had a water leak,” Russell said. “I hit a bump at Turn 4, was feeling good until then and then suddenly the lap wasn’t. So I didn’t think much of it, and the team told me the water was spraying over my tires because as soon as we saw the water leak on the data, suddenly my tire temperatures got really cold on the rear.

“I don’t think much more – top three was definitely not possible, but maybe a couple more positions would have been there.”

Despite the difficulties on Saturday, Russell is hopeful Mercedes still has a car capable of fighting with the teams ahead across a race distance.

“Our assessment after FP2 yesterday was we’re about seven tenths [of a second] off in qualifying pace and we’re the quickest race pace. So that tells you it’s not a car problem, it’s a tire problem, and I guess we’ll answer the question tomorrow if we’ve struck the right balance between the tire heating for qualifying versus the race. But starting from P7 it will be difficult.”