George Russell forced to change power unit ahead of the Hungarian GP after a crack on his engine caused a water leak in qualifying. He qualified a disappointing seventh but will start sixth ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli after Antonelli received a three‑grid place penalty for speeding. Russell will take on his fourth power unit of 2026 but will not incur a grid penalty because the change is to the same specification and does not exceed the season limit of four engines.

The leak was detected at the end of Q3 when the team saw a loss of water pressure; Russell halted and told Sky Sports F1 he "lost water pressure and I had a water leak. When I stopped on track, the car was leaking a load of water." Mercedes believe the leak happened after Russell ran over the exit kerb at Turn 4 during his final Q3 run, where he did not improve his lap time.

Russell trails championship leader and teammate Kimi Antonelli by 50 points. At the previous race in Belgium a power unit software bug caused a lack of straight‑line speed and a race‑ending collision with Lewis Hamilton; the bug has been fixed for Hungary. Technical director Simone Resta explained the software is identical for all cars but affected Russell more, while Antonelli benefited from a fresher power unit.

Russell said he "would have been nice to be higher up" and noted the challenge of overtaking at the Hungaroring. He aims to close the 50‑point deficit, start ahead of Antonelli, and balance qualifying versus race setup. The Hungarian GP is scheduled for Sunday July 26 at 2 pm, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event.