George Russell confirmed that he will incur another grid penalty this season, in addition to the one affecting his start position for the Singapore Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver will begin the race from the back of the grid due to the need for a new engine, which exceeds his allocated limit for the season.

Russell explained the situation:

• "You get (a limit of) four engines a season, so six races on each, and we have seven races to the end. So I will be taking another penalty, so yeah it's pretty relentless at the moment."

His engine failure in Malaysia disrupted previous plans to use his older engine until the anticipated upgrade, expected for the next race at the United States Grand Prix in Austin.

He added:

• "I knew I was going to have a penalty. The plan was always to go in Austin, and obviously Singapore is the second hardest track to overtake on the calendar. So you would never choose to do it (here)."

Due to multiple engine failures this season, Russell had no viable engine to revert to. He stated:

• "We don't have the (upgrade) this weekend... you can either choose to roll the dice and hope it lasts for seven races, but also suffer a performance offset (as the engine degrades), or just accept I'll be taking another penalty."

In Singapore, Russell will revert to an older car specification, which he previously drove to victory in Azerbaijan. His teammate, Antonelli, is also expected to take a back-of-the-grid penalty upon the introduction of the upgraded engine, following his win from 19th at the Italian Grand Prix. Russell acknowledged the challenges ahead:

• "Unfortunately, we're not going to be fighting for a podium this weekend, it's exceptionally unlikely."

The team aims to discern whether the performance issues in Malaysia were a one-off or a flaw in the recent upgrade.