Mercedes not sure if George Russell’s ‘cracked’ F1 engine can be repaired

Mercedes is unsure whether George Russell’s damaged engine from the Hungarian Grand Prix can be repaired to help him avoid a penalty after Formula 1’s summer break. 

Russell was forced to change his power unit ahead of Sunday’s race at the Hungaroring after a crack on his engine caused a water leak in qualifying. 

The Briton came to a dramatic stop on track at the end of Q3 after Mercedes detected a loss of water pressure. The team had to move Russell onto his fourth power unit of 2026 as a result. 

It is the last engine in the permitted allocation of four penalty-free changes for the season, meaning the next one will see Russell trigger an automatic grid drop. 

Asked if Russell’s engine can be fixed after Sunday’s race, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted: “Not sure. We need to check whether we can repair it. It has quite a crack.”

Both Russell and team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who leads the world championship by 50 points from Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, are already on their fourth engine after a series of reliability failures this year. 

“In terms of engine penalties, I still very much hope we don't need to take it. And we need to decide when that is, when we need to take one, at which tracks,” Wolff added. 

“There could be one that can be very special for Kimi, but on paper look slike it's a good place to take an engine penalty. Need to speak to Marco [Antonelli, father] whether we want to take an engine penalty in Monza.”

Wolff jokingly added: “You take the pressure off in Monza starting from the back. 

“Our reliability has been… just not good. Whether we take a penalty or not, we shall see.” 

Russell suffered another blow to his F1 title hopes by finishing seventh in Hungary as he lost yet more ground to Antonelli. 

The Briton’s W17 suffered an anti-stall when the lights went out, causing him to plummet towards the back of the field, before mounting an impressive fightback. 

But with Antonelli salvaging a podium finish in third place, Russell is now 59 points adrift of the Italian teenager. 

“I'm sort of past the point of disappointment now, because if I'm continuing to be disappointed with everything that goes on, I'll just be disappointed every day of the week,” Russell said. 

“So, it's sort of like, I've got to stay positive. Another sort of technical issue that completely ruined the race, but the pace and positives, the pace was very strong.

“The team said it was as strong as anybody out there, which I haven't been there for probably two or three races now, or three races. So, I'll take positives there, but yes, it's just unbelievable the list of things that's happened this season.”