George Russell Admits His 2026 Title Hopes Are Now Exceptionally Unlikely After Cruel Bahrain GP Retirement

• George Russell was forced to retire from third place late in the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia with a suspected power unit failure.
• The Mercedes driver says his 2026 title hopes are now “exceptionally unlikely” after the DNF left him 84 points behind teammate Kimi Antonelli.
• Toto Wolff called it “one of my worst experiences” after a weekend that also saw Mercedes outqualified by Red Bull and Ferrari.

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A Podium Gone With Five Laps Left

George Russell says he now accepts his 2026 title bid is “exceptionally unlikely” after a late retirement at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia cost him a near-certain podium and a huge chunk of his championship chances.

Running third behind race winner Max Verstappen and teammate Kimi Antonelli in a second Safety Car period, Russell’s Mercedes was stopped at the Turn 1 entry with five laps to go. The team confirmed it was a suspected power unit issue, the third engine-related retirement of the season for the Silver Arrows and the fourth reliability-related DNF overall.

“You’ve Almost Got to Laugh”

Russell spoke to Sky Sports F1 shortly after climbing out of the car, his tone a mix of resignation and frustration at a problem he has now faced more than once this year.

“You’ve almost got to laugh. I’m beyond disappointment,” he said. “It’s just so many times this season it’s happened. It’s a real shame, but we just keep on fighting. Just keep on trying to go. The podium looked very certain. Solid race, not amazing race, but solid race. Not the first time, so I’m pretty used to this feeling and these questions.”

Asked directly whether Sunday’s result meant his championship ambitions were over for the year, Russell did not dress up the answer. “I don’t need to say I think it’s gone or whatever, but of course, it’s exceptionally unlikely,” he said. “That’s just the reality. I knew if I wanted to come back I needed luck on my side. Unfortunately, I’ve had luck not on my side. A three-point loss being behind Kimi turned into an 18-point loss. Of course, if the issue was on the other side it would have been an 18-point gain. It’s a real shame, but that’s just how it is.”

Wolff: “One of My Worst Experiences”

Team principal Toto Wolff did not hide his frustration either, pointing to a weekend that had already gone wrong before Russell’s car stopped on track. Mercedes brought a long-awaited upgrade to Sepang but were outqualified by both Red Bull and Ferrari.

“I’m so massively annoyed, and not in a happy place,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1. “First of all, we didn’t have the speed that we were hoping to have before the weekend, so there’s a lot of homework to be done in order to recover, which I’m sure we will. Then the race literally, if you consider the fight with Lewis [Hamilton] behind, went against us. We had such an advantage, one VSC, two Safety Cars, you couldn’t be more unlucky. And to make things worse, a PU failure with a few laps to go until the end for George, which is terrible for his championship and not good at all for our constructors’ points.”

“So, as much as I love to be here when I look at the pure races, one of my worst experiences, to be honest,” he added.

Wolff pointed to the pattern of unreliability as the bigger concern heading into the final seven rounds. “It’s just the overarching topic, the DNFs, that could cost us dearly, also for the remaining seven races,” he said. “A championship is quickly turned around against you if you have a DNF, and that can’t continue.”

He did express confidence that Mercedes could fix the issues behind the scenes. “I think we have a good action plan,” Wolff said. “James [Allison] is fully on top of it with his leadership team. That lifts my mood because I know with such a tremendous group of people, in the same way as that HPP are going to sort it out, but that gives me real relief for the moment to know that they are the best and they are going to find solutions. I think we will come back strong.”

Antonelli Extends His Lead

With Russell out, Antonelli crossed the line second behind Verstappen to push his championship advantage out to 84 points, the largest gap of the season between the Mercedes teammates. The result arrived in a difficult weekend for the car itself, with Antonelli admitting the team was still working through the new upgrade package.

“Max has been very, very quick all weekend,” Antonelli said. “Red Bull, they’ve been doing a great job, and we’ve just been struggling more than previous races. I think we’re still trying to understand the new package because also this track, with such a rough tarmac and high temperatures, it made our life more difficult. And probably next week in Singapore, we hopefully will have a better read on the package and also understanding what set-up needs to be run. But I think today, with the pace we had, P2 was the maximum we could have achieved.”

Russell had arrived in Malaysia with some momentum after a lights-to-flag win last time out in Baku had cut the gap to his teammate to as little as 66 points. That recovery now counts for little heading into the Singapore Grand Prix, with the Briton heading to the next round trailing by the biggest margin he has faced all year.

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Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

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