George Russell was forced to replace his power unit ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix after a crack in the engine caused a water leak during qualifying. The incident occurred at the very end of the Q3 session when the team noticed a sudden drop in water pressure, prompting engineers to pull the car off the track. As a result, the Mercedes driver will be running his fourth power unit of the 2026 season, but because the replacement is of the same specification and does not exceed the allotted four engines, he will escape any grid‑penalty. Russell’s qualifying performance was underwhelming; he initially set a time that placed him seventh on the grid.
However, after the championship leader Kimi Antonelli received a three‑place grid penalty for a speeding infringement, Russell will line up sixth on race day, one spot ahead of his teammate. The water‑pressure issue appears to have been triggered when Russell ran over the exit kerb at Turn 4 on his final flying lap in Q3, a moment when he failed to improve his lap time. "We lost water pressure and I had a water leak.
When I stopped on track, the car was leaking a load of water," Russell told Sky Sports F1. "Fingers crossed it doesn't affect anything for the race." He added that he is 50 points behind Antonelli in the drivers’ standings and hopes the new unit will restore his competitiveness. Mercedes has identified the crack as the source of the leak and has swapped the unit without breaching the season’s engine‑usage limit. This marks the latest in a string of reliability setbacks for the team, which has seen both Russell and Antonelli suffer engine‑related retirements this year.
At the previous round in Belgium, Russell was "lost for words" after a software glitch in the power‑unit management system reduced his straight‑line speed, culminating in a race‑ending collision with Lewis Hamilton at Spa‑Francorchamps. The technical team has since corrected the software bug, and the updated code will be in place for the Hungarian weekend. Mercedes technical director Simone Resta explained the situation on Friday: "The software is the same for all the cars, and it was there in every car, but it affected George more than Kimi.
We also need to bear in mind that, when comparing their performance in the last few races, Kimi was on a fresher power unit, which is, of course, always a bit better than a quite used power unit. That will change in the next races when we start to have a fresher power unit on George's side. So, there's a bit of everything.
There's a bit of software, but there's also Kimi being out of phase with George's programme. You sum up everything when you look at the final result." The grid for the Hungarian Grand Prix reflects the penalty to Antonelli and Russell's new starting position. The top ten qualifiers are: 1) Lando Norris (McLaren), 2) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 3) Oscar Piastri (McLaren), 4) Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 5) Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), 6) George Russell (Mercedes), 7) Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), 8) Isack Hadjar (Red Bull), 9) Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls), 10) Nico Hulkenberg (Audi). Despite the improved grid slot, Russell has struggled to match Antonelli’s pace throughout the European swing, a gap that has persisted from earlier races.
Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, Russell acknowledges the challenge of closing a 50‑point deficit and securing a podium finish. "We were probably even further off on Friday but we had the strongest race pace, which tends to say it's not a car problem but a tyre problem," he said. "Time will tell in the race if we struck the right balance between the qualifying setup and race setup. We probably know we could make the car faster in qualifying trim at the expense of race performance.
It's going to be difficult to overtake. It would have been nice to be higher up." The Hungarian Grand Prix schedule is packed with support races: an F3 feature race at 7:35 am, Porsche Supercup at 9:05 am, an F2 feature race at 10:20 am, followed by build‑up coverage from 12:30 pm leading into the main event at 2:00 pm.
The race will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event, with streaming available via NOW without a long‑term contract. Fans can also follow real‑time updates, video highlights, and analysis on Sky Sports’ WhatsApp channel. In summary, Russell’s forced power‑unit swap underscores Mercedes’ ongoing reliability concerns, but the team’s swift response ensures he avoids a grid penalty. With a fresh engine, a revised software map, and a slightly better starting position, Russell will aim to maximise his race pace, manage tyre wear, and perhaps claw back some points against his teammate and the rest of the field in Budapest.
The outcome will be crucial for his championship hopes as the season moves deeper into the European leg.