Mercedes Confirm Battery Catastrophe Cost Russell Points In Canadian Grand Prix

Mercedes technical director James Allison has revealed a battery failure was responsible for ending George Russell’s Canadian Grand Prix prematurely on lap 30.
Russell had been performing strongly throughout the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, taking two pole positions and winning the sprint race the day before the main event.
In the race itself, Russell was locked in a battle with team-mate Kimi Antonelli, successfully keeping the young Italian behind him before his W17 suddenly ground to a halt.
Allison confirmed the retirement was caused by a battery problem, but admitted the team still does not fully understand the root cause of the failure.
“It was an engine kill caused by a failure in the battery which just suffered a catastrophic failure a third of the way into the race,” Allison said in Mercedes’ debrief.
“We can see enough at the end of the race that the battery was fairly unhappy with some heat damage and we’ll have to figure out in the coming days and weeks exactly what caused it and put it right.”
With Russell out of the race, Antonelli went on to claim a commanding victory, his fourth consecutive grand prix win of the season.
The result means Antonelli now leads the drivers’ championship by 43 points over Russell, with the Monaco Grand Prix next on the calendar.
Russell’s frustration at the retirement was plain to see, as he slammed his fists against the car and threw his headrest from the cockpit in anger.
The incident was noted by the race stewards, and Russell was handed a suspended fine before subsequently issuing a public apology.
Mercedes now face a race against time to identify and resolve the battery issue ahead of Monaco, with Russell desperate to close the gap to Antonelli in the championship standings.
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