George Russell has confirmed that Mercedes is delaying his engine penalty until the team introduces an upgrade under the FIA’s ADUO scheme.

The plan will prevent Russell from having to serve two separate engine-related grid drops over the remainder of the F1 2026 season.

George Russell penalty to coincide with Mercedes engine upgrade

Mercedes holds a commanding lead in both world championships with a maximum of 10 races remaining in F1 2026, having won all but four of the 13 rounds held so far this season.

The Brackley team sits 122 points clear of second-placed Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, with Russell and teammate Kimi Antonelli occupying the top two slots in the drivers’ standings.

Despite its success, Mercedes’ reliability record has been patchy in 2026 with Russell and Antonelli suffering mechanical retirements in Canada and Barcelona respectively.

Kimi Antonelli vs George Russell: Mercedes head-to-head stats for F1 2026 season

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates

The team has been forced to exceed its component limits for the season, with Antonelli serving an engine penalty at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.

The 20-year-old went on to win from 19th on the grid, extending his advantage over Russell to 66 points.

Russell himself will be forced to take a penalty of his own over the coming races, with Mercedes yet to decide when the British driver takes a grid drop.

Speaking to PlanetF1.com and other media outlets ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, Russell confirmed that Mercedes is deliberately waiting to trigger his penalty so it can coincide with the team’s latest engine upgrade under the ADUO (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities) scheme.

This will prevent him from having to serve a further penalty later in the season when Mercedes’ ADUO upgrade arrives.

He explained: “We’re waiting to take my penalty with the ADUO upgrade. Otherwise, if I took it there [Monza], I’d have to take it [a penalty] again. So it made zero sense for me.”

Russell went on to concede that Monza was the “perfect race to take a penalty” after Antonelli’s win.

He said: “He obviously had an amazing race and it was a very unique circuit.

“I don’t think anybody expected the tow and the slipstream to be so powerful. When I got passed by Max, the next lap I gained 1.4 seconds just in the straight on myself.

“Obviously Kimi was up to P5-P6 just after a handful of laps and the red flag was maybe slightly beneficial as well.

“I think we’d have still been in the fight even if he started on pole and I started second.

“I still think 30 laps into the race, we would have still been nose to tail battling one another.

“So it was obviously, with the benefit of hindsight, that was the perfect race to take a penalty.”

Following an early red flag at Monza, Russell remained on hard tyres for the duration while Antonelli ran two stints on the medium tyre to catch and pass his teammate.

Asked if he feels he is being treated equally to Antonelli by Mercedes, Russell insisted: “Yeah, I do, to be honest.

“In the race last week when he pitted, I initially thought I was on the right strategy, to be honest, because in the strategy meeting in the morning, we said the fastest race, if you could, was to start on the hard and do no pit stop – and that was faster than doing a pit stop.

“And I think the reality is he’s performing better than me at the moment.

“And if I pitted and he stayed out, maybe he still would have won the race. Maybe not. Who knows?

“That is something I just need to just continue working on.

“I think the last two races for me have arguably been two of my strongest weekends as a whole over the course of the whole weekend in this whole season, so I’m sort of pleased with that.

“But of course, I still need to keep on making some improvements.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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