George Russell has revealed he plans to take a grid penalty at next month’s Las Vegas Grand Prix to allow an upgraded power unit element to be fitted to his car; watch every session of the United States GP in Austin on October 23-25, live on Sky Sports F1 Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Mercedes’ George Russell is set to take another grid penalty in November’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. Russell started at the back of the grid in Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix due to a power unit change following an engine issue at the previous race in Malaysia which saw him retire late on. He recovered to ninth but now trails Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli by 102 points in the Drivers’ Championship with six rounds remaining, so is all but mathematically out of the title fight. Prior to his Malaysia reliability woes, Mercedes had planned for Russell to take on a new power unit at the United States Grand Prix, which takes place next weekend in Austin, as they expect to have an upgrade ready, but it appears Russell will take on the new part three races later in Las Vegas on November 20-22.
Mercedes are taking up the upgrade opportunity they were granted by the FIA’s ADUO (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities) system to improve their engine. The ranking of Mercedes’ engine performance below Red Bull’s by the sport’s governing body caused some dispute, with the Milton Keynes squad arguing that the Silver Arrows, who are dominating the Constructors’ Championship, already have the best power unit. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player “It will probably be later in the season now to be honest – maybe Las Vegas. But it will be there at some point,” Russell told Sky Sports F1 when asked when he will take on the upgraded power unit element that will trigger a grid penalty.
“Now we have the choice to take it when we wish and we will choose slightly easier tracks [to overtake at].” Russell came into 2026 as favourite for the championship with many pundits predicting Mercedes would have the best car and Antonelli, in just his second F1 season, not ready to challenge for the title. However, Russell has largely been outpaced by Antonelli with just three wins to the Italian’s eight this season. Mercedes brought an upgrade package to Malaysia which did not give them the instant performance they anticipated, so ran the pre-Malaysia car with Russell and the new upgrades with Antonelli in Singapore. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped every competitive session of the Sprint weekend in Singapore, although Russell was leading the Sprint race until he crashed.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player “The goal right now is to try to improve the car. We were very much the dominant team for this whole season,” said Russell. “You look at the recent races and Red Bull have been very much best. In Baku, Max was a similar level to me.
We go to Malaysia, a totally different track, and Singapore another different track, and he’s dominated the last two weekends. “Right now, the goal is to try and get on top of these updates.” Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Antonelli finished on the podium in Sunday’s race after making late overtakes on McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. The championship leader finished 25 seconds behind race-winner Max Verstappen and thinks Red Bull have done an “incredible step forward”, while Mercedes are yet to extract the most from their own upgrades. “I feel like it was a very progressive weekend, where we started off the pace and I’ve definitely been struggling with the new package,” Antonelli said.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player “All in all, I feel like we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and we’re going to keep pushing on this package because, also on my side, I want to help the team as much as possible in trying to understand it, also to understand which way to take for the future car as well.” Formula 1 next heads to The Americas for another triple header with the United States Grand Prix in Austin up first on October 23-25, live on Sky Sports F1.
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