{"id":921239,"date":"2026-10-05T07:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T07:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/921239\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T07:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T07:32:08","slug":"george-russell-reacts-after-bahrain-grand-prix-f1-title-blow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/921239\/","title":{"rendered":"George Russell reacts after Bahrain Grand Prix F1 title blow"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEPANG \u2013 George Russell<\/a> saw his F1 title ambitions take a major hit as a suspected power unit failure forced him to retire in the closing stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.<\/p>\n

Russell lost 18 points to Kimi Antonelli, with the gap now at 84.<\/p>\n

George Russell \u2018almost has to laugh\u2019 at F1 luck<\/p>\n

The Mercedes driver suffered his third retirement of the season in Malaysia, and a second where the power unit was to blame.<\/p>\n

Having clawed back some of the margin to his championship-leading teammate Antonelli last time out in Baku, the gains were instantly swept away.<\/p>\n

At the time, Russell had been lapping in third place, one position behind Antonelli and looking likely to only lose three points on his rival.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve almost got to laugh,\u201d Russell told Sky Sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m beyond disappointment. It\u2019s just so many times this season it\u2019s happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a real shame. Of course, it\u2019s a real shame, but just keep on fighting, just keep on trying to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe podium, of course, looked very certain. Solid race, not amazing race, but a solid race. But yeah, not the first time, so I\u2019m pretty used to this feeling and these questions, let\u2019s say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell\u2019s Mercedes crawled to a halt moments before an expected safety car restart.<\/p>\n

Pulling off on the run to Turn 1, the failure bore an eerie resemblance to a failure that struck Lewis Hamilton in 2016, which put then-Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg into pole position to take the title.<\/p>\n

More from the Bahrain Grand Prix on PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n

Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia 2026 \u2013 F1 race results (Sepang)<\/a><\/p>\n

Christian Horner \u2018disadvantage\u2019 claim as Arrivabene addresses \u2018Ferrari dream\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

As the championship enters its final throes, Russell refused to state out loud that the title battle is over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t need to say I think it\u2019s gone or whatever, but of course it\u2019s exceptionally likely, and that\u2019s just the reality,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew if I wanted to come back, I needed luck on my side. Unfortunately, I\u2019ve had luck not on my side.<\/p>\n

\u201cA three-point loss today, being behind Kimi, turned into an 18-point loss, and of course, if the issue had been on the other side, it would have been an 18-point gain. So it\u2019s a real shame, but that\u2019s just how it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonelli has already taken a back-of-the-grid penalty for an engine change this year \u2013 at Monza, when he stormed through to victory \u2013 and Russell was already expected to take this hit in the coming races.<\/p>\n

It is unclear at present how this latest problem will affect these plans, with further parts potentially required to complete the season.<\/p>\n

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n

Read next \u2013 Bahrain GP in Malaysia: Verstappen wins; Russell DNF; rain triggers utter chaos<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEPANG \u2013 George Russell saw his F1 title ambitions take a major hit as a suspected power unit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":921240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[86840,49,48,578,576,577,3024,1613,1881,44,82],"class_list":["post-921239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-bahrain-grand-prix","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-george-russell","tag-home-page","tag-mercedes","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/921240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}