Why George Russell faced double penalty if he took Baku engine change

Mercedes Formula 1 driver George Russell says he faced two penalties if he’d taken a power unit change for this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Mercedes team fitted a fresh power unit to championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s car at the Italian Grand Prix, picking Monza to do so to make it easier for him to recover positions.

Antonelli ultimately won the grand prix from 19th on the grid.

George Russell has faced a similar engine change plan, which was initially expected to come at Baku this weekend.

However, with Mercedes’ ADUO engine upgrade coming in a few weeks, Russell will have to extend the mileage on his current power unit before he can take a fresh one.

On Thursday at Baku, Russell also explained that he took a new turbocharger in Hungary, so he’d have faced another grid drop this season even if he’d taken a fresh power unit in Azerbaijan.

“Yeah, it won’t be this weekend,” he said of the engine penalty.

“I will take a penalty slightly further down the line.

“So, you know, there is a bit of a deficit, but that is swings and roundabouts over the season because all the drivers have new engines at different points.

“So, one race you’ll have a fresher one, one race you’ll have an older one.

“So, you know, this one is coming to the end of its life, let’s say.

“But yeah, it won’t be long until, unfortunately or fortunately, you’re taking a penalty because, depending on where you do it, it might not be so harmful.”

Pressed further on this, he added: “Because we have the ADUO update coming, which means I would have had to have taken another penalty because in Budapest, when I had to change my power unit, I also had to change my turbo there.

“And now I’ve… it’s all a bit complicated. But long story short, if I took one now, I would have had to have taken another one.”

Title situation doesn’t change George Russell’s approach

Russell comes to Baku 81 points behind team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the standings, with the Briton having all but written off his title hopes.

But he says he will keep pushing until he is mathematically out of the equation.

“I’m going to keep fighting every single race until, you know, it’s mathematically impossible,” he said on Thursday.

“But it doesn’t change how I go about my job. I want to try and win every single race and put it on pole every single race.

“That’s my goal. That’s what I’m working towards every single weekend, and what happens thereafter will be.

“And there’s obviously a huge deficit, but it’s not even really a consideration right now. It’s just the performance is the biggest priority.”