The Mercedes F1 team has had a mixed start to the 2023 season. While Lewis Hamilton’s side of the garage has performed relatively well, George Russell’s side has a lot to improve upon. Russell not only suffered from a DNF at the Australian GP, but his car also suffered from an engine issue.
The Silver Arrows have now revealed the cause of the engine failure and the news isn’t good for the 25-year-old. Since teams can only use a limited number of engines for their drivers, Russell is now at a greater risk of getting a penalty.
Will George Russell get a penalty at the Azerbaijan GP?
After two weeks of investigation, Mercedes confirmed that Russell‘s car suffered from an engine failure after a piece of debris got stuck inside the cylinder. They deemed the power unit as unsalvageable as the ICE, turbocharger, and MGU-K got damaged.
Consequently, Russell will now be forced to take up a second power unit for the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Since F1 does permit teams to use three engines for their drivers, the 25-year-old will not get a penalty.
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However, since just three races have been completed, Russell and Mercedes are now in real danger of facing a penalty at some point in the season. If the Briton’s start to the new season was not bad already, this might just make it much worse.
Russell’s Australian GP turned from a potential miracle to a disaster in no time
George Russell had a roller coaster of emotions in his last race in Australia as a race that began extremely well turned into a complete disaster in no time. The 25-year-old kickstarted the Grand Prix weekend by qualifying a fantastic second for the main race.
He carried on this form into the main race as he took the lead on the very first lap. From this point on, Russell seemed to have this race under control until his Mercedes suddenly slowed down on lap 17 and had smoke coming out from the rear of the car.
As Russell attempted to park his car near the side of the track, his car also caught fire. While the Briton escaped unscathed, the damage was done to the car’s engine. Mercedes and Russell will now hope that they can improve upon their reliability concerns to avoid taking any penalties.
