Here is the thing about a brutal F1 season: sometimes you just have to pick your battles, and as Crash.net reports, George Russell has already picked his. The Mercedes driver is planning to take another grid penalty at the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November to fit a fresh power unit component.
It is a familiar pain for the 28-year-old Briton. He already had to start from the back of the grid at the Singapore Grand Prix after blowing past his permitted allocation of power unit parts for the season. That disaster was triggered by a heartbreaking power unit failure in the closing stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, leaving him scrambling for hardware ever since.
The goal right now is to try to improve the car. We were very much the dominant team for this whole season,
Originally, the expectation was that Russell would take his next grid drop when Mercedes deploys its upgraded specification under Formula 1's Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities. While not officially confirmed, many expected that new homologation to land at the United States Grand Prix. But Russell made it clear to Sky Sports F1 that he intends to wait three races later for the event running between 20-22 November.
"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. "Now we have the choice to take it when we wish and we will choose slightly easier tracks [to overtake at]."
That strategic patience comes amidst a difficult championship campaign. Reliability struggles and recent failures have left him trailing Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli by 102 points in the world championship standings. With only six rounds remaining, the 20-year-old Italian could actually seal his maiden world title as soon as the upcoming round in Austin. For that championship scenario to play out, Antonelli must win the United States Grand Prix while seeing Russell finish ninth or lower, alongside Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth or lower.
With his own title ambitions effectively extinguished, Russell's focus has completely shifted toward helping Mercedes tame its problematic upgrade package, which first broke cover in Malaysia.
"The goal right now is to try to improve the car. We were very much the dominant team for this whole season," Russell said. "You look at the recent races and Red Bull have been very much best. In Baku, Max [Verstappen] 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."
