George Russell will start Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix from the back of the grid after Mercedes exceeded his power unit allocation, a decision forced by the engine failure that ended his race in Malaysia. The uphill climb looks steep — Russell is targeting P6 or P7, citing teammate Kimi Antonelli's wildly different recovery drives at Monza (19th to victory) and Baku (16th to P10) as proof that anything can happen.
The bigger worry is the car itself. Russell crashed out of Saturday's sprint while leading and says the Mercedes hasn't felt right since. He ran the older aero package this weekend as the team debugs last week's mixed-result upgrade, but pace vanished between Friday and qualifying — top-three laps on Day 1, not a single top-five stint in Q1. Whether that's crash damage, setup drift, or the spec swap, Mercedes needs answers before Austin. Russell's recovery drive just became a diagnostic session.
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