Russell steps back to older spec as Mercedes splits garage for Singapore GP

George Russell will carry an older aerodynamic specification into the Singapore Grand Prix sprint weekend after Mercedes confirmed a split-garage strategy at Marina Bay, with rookie Kimi Antonelli keeping the newer Malaysia upgrade package on his car.

The decision follows a confirmation from team principal Toto Wolff that Mercedes would run a divided specification to troubleshoot its troubled aerodynamic updates. Paddock photographs show mechanics preparing two distinct floor packages side by side in the pitlane, making the arrangement official ahead of the sprint format weekend.

Antonelli will run the controversial Malaysia upgrade for the entirety of the Singapore event. With the 18-year-old currently leading the drivers’ championship, Mercedes is giving him every available tool to extract pace around the tight, unforgiving Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Russell’s situation, however, made him the logical candidate to absorb the older specification. A catastrophic power unit failure in the closing stages of the Sepang race has left him facing a mandatory engine penalty in Singapore, forcing him to start from the back of the grid. On a street circuit where overtaking opportunities are notoriously scarce, his chances of fighting for a podium were already severely compromised before the garage split was even considered.

Mercedes is therefore turning a difficult weekend into a data-gathering exercise. With the Sprint format restricting teams to a single 60-minute practice session before parc ferme rules lock the cars in place, Russell’s compromised race weekend provides a rare opportunity to directly benchmark the Malaysia updates against the previous specification under competitive conditions — without placing any additional burden on Antonelli’s title campaign.

The arrangement reflects a pragmatic calculation: rather than waste a weekend absorbing a penalty with no strategic upside, Mercedes extracts maximum technical value from Russell’s enforced disadvantage while keeping Antonelli in the best possible shape to defend his championship lead.