Mercedes reveals reason behind George Russell’s Melbourne retirement, gives a worrying update about his power unit
Mercedes has given out what exactly caused the problem with George Russell's car in Melbourne that led to his retirement.
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George Russell went into the Australian GP weekend with the sole aim of earning a podium after two failed attempts at the season opener in Bahrain and then, in Jeddah. By this time last year, George Russell had already gotten a P3 finish at Albert Park. Considering that 2022 was his debut year, fans expected Russell to have even better results after the first three Grands Prix this season, but unfortunately, that did not turn out to be the case. Even though the Briton was leading the grid at one point in time, his run ended with an unexplained retirement.
Now, weeks after the mishap in Melbourne, Mercedes spokespersons have an answer to why George Russell had to withdraw his name from the Australian GP. The investigation into his car has yielded results that claim their was a problem with his engine, and it is so grave that the car part is completely unsalvageable. This means that the power unit that was used in George Russell’s car for the Australian GP will not be returning to any of the future races, and he will get a new PU in Baku.
Now, a PU change is a massive thing for any driver, and it might very well be that George Russell will have to start from the back of the grid at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Elaborating on what went wrong with Russell’s car, a report by the German news outlet Auto, Motor und Sport has said, “Mercedes has found out the cause of the engine damage. A piece of debris in the cylinder caused a fire. The technicians can no longer save the six-cylinder.”
Toto Wolff had already suspected what might have been the problem with George Russell’s car in Australia
George Russell’s retirement from Australian GP highlights second Mercedes engine failure in the first three races of 2023. The first time was when McLaren’s Lando Norris had severe trouble steering his car at the season opener in Bahrain, and had to repeatedly make stops at the team pit for repairs. Toto Wolff had already suspected some problems with the engine cylinders as he had told the media following the Aussie GP, “Bang! It’s a proper failure but we don’t know what it was yet. I think it was on one of the cylinders.”
But all hope is not lost for Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton earned the team their first podium finish on 2023 by getting a P2 spot in Australia. Now, it remains to be seen how the team manages to repair George Russell’s car and get him a new power unit in whatever meagre time is left before they have to get to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix which is scheduled to take plan during the end of April.
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