George Russell will use a different power unit for the Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix after retiring from last weekend’s event in Sao Paulo due to overheating.
Though the Brit’s Mercedes power unit did not fail, the team pulled him out of the race as a precaution. It was his first retirement since the Canadian Grand Prix and only his third of the season.
With team-mate Lewis Hamilton only capable of eighth in Sunday’s race, team boss Toto Wolff suggested it was his worst weekend in 13 years.
Russell is not expected to be penalised for the change as the team reverts to units already in its pool for both the Vegas and Abu Dhabi rounds.
“George will be on different power units for the next two races as was originally allocated,” explained Riccardo Musconi, head of trackside performance for Mercedes.
“The power unit used in Interlagos was meant to be its last race weekend so why did we retire his car?
“We started seeing some pressures and temperatures that were quite worrying and it got to a point where we were quite convinced it was about to fail.
“To avoid a possible fire and damage other parts of the car, the logical conclusion was to retire the car.
“He will be on a different power unit for the final two races so there is no issue from that point of view.”
Teams are limited in the number of power units, and associated components, they’re allowed to use each season before picking up a penalty.
For 2023, each driver was afforded four internal combustion engines, turbos, MGU-Hs, and MGU-Ks.
That allocation was upped from three of each to accommodate the planned 23-race championship, with teams free to mix and match components.
Heading into the Sao Paulo weekend, Russell had used all four sets of each component at least once.
Additionally, he’d used the allowed two energy stores and controlled electronics, and six exhaust systems – all within the regulations.
