Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said he was "massively annoyed" after the late unreliability that delivered a potentially knock-out blow to George Russell's title hopes in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Mercedes had already been experiencing an unexpectedly difficult weekend on F1's return to Sepang with the team outqualified by both Red Bull and Ferrari despite bringing a long-awaited car upgrade. Although Red Bull's Max Verstappen proved too fast in Sunday's chaotic, twice-delayed race, Mercedes were still on course for second with Kimi Antonelli and third with George Russell when, with five laps to go during the second Safety Car phase, the latter's car was stopped by a suspected power unit failure.
The retirement cost Russell 15 points and saw the British driver slip 84 points behind team-mate Antonelli in the title race with seven rounds left. "I'm so massively annoyed, and not in a happy place," a frustrated Wolff told Sky Sports F1. "First of all, we didn't have the speed that we were hoping to have before the weekend, so there's a lot of homework to be done."
Wolff acknowledged the solid race that Antonelli drove but was left concerned by the latest incident of Mercedes unreliability, the third engine-related issue to force a retirement this season. "A championship is quickly turned around against you if you have a DNF, and that can't continue," he added.
Source: Sky Sports Champions League · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing