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That is what you call a brutal end to an afternoon. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff did not hold back after George Russell suffered a late retirement from the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, admitting plainly that he was not in a happy place following a power unit failure just a few laps from the finish.
It was a devastating blow on multiple fronts. The retirement marks the third of the season for Russell, and the fourth for the team overall following an earlier mechanical failure for Kimi Antonelli in Barcelona. Wolff made no attempt to sugarcoat the situation to Sky Sports F1, labeling the afternoon as one of his worst experiences in the sport.
Things had already proven difficult before the lights even went out. Despite bringing fresh upgrades to Sepang, the Silver Arrows simply lacked the expected speed as Red Bull's Max Verstappen stormed to pole position and converted it into his first victory of the season. To make matters worse, changing weather conditions brought chaotic interruptions, with Virtual Safety Cars and two Safety Cars playing heavily against the team's race strategy.
Amid the chaos, Kimi Antonelli salvaged some cheer by holding onto second place in the eventful conditions, finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Yet the overarching threat of reliability cast a long shadow. Wolff pointed out that these recurring DNFs could cost them dearly across the remaining seven races, warning that a championship can turn around against you very quickly.
Thankfully, the leadership group offers genuine relief. Wolff expressed absolute faith in Technical Director James Allison and High Performance Powertrains to sort the underlying issues out, praising the tremendous group of people who are already fully on top of an action plan to help the team come back strong.
