‘The story of the season’ – Russell assesses ‘very difficult’ recovery drive in Singapore Grand Prix

George Russell was left feeling that his Singapore Grand Prix weekend had been the “story of the season” for him after facing a “very difficult” drive from the back of the field in Sunday's race, the Mercedes man eventually crossing the line in ninth.

Having crashed out of the lead during Saturday’s Sprint, Russell’s woes continued at the Marina Bay Street Circuit as he served a grid penalty for taking on new power unit components following his retirement last time out in Malaysia.

This saw the Briton drop from his Qualifying slot of P6 down to P19, leaving him with his work cut out for Sunday’s race.

After reaching the top 10 on his climb through the field, there looked to be a golden opportunity for Russell to make his first pit stop when a Virtual Safety Car was called. However, luck again seemed to have abandoned the 28-year-old as the VSC phase came to an end just as he dived into the pits, meaning that he could not benefit to the full extent.

Despite chasing down Audi's Nico Hulkenberg in a battle for eighth during the latter stages of the race, Russell ultimately could not find a way past and had to settle for P9, bringing a tough weekend for the British driver to a close.

“I think we made good progress in the first stint, to be honest,” Russell reflected afterwards. “I was pretty pleased with the progress there. However, the second stint with that VSC… could have stayed out a little bit longer.

“Then Nico did a great job defending – I struggled to get by him. And then towards the end of the race, it wasn't worth the risk so I just brought the car home. Not a fantastic weekend, so a bit of a shame.”

Having experienced a number of tough moments throughout the campaign, Russell conceded that his fortunes at the Marina Bay Street Circuit seemed to be a continuation of this.

“It was always going to be very difficult coming from the back,” he told Sky Sports F1. “It's been a bit of a shame these last two weekends – it could have panned out very differently.

“A little bit story of the season, everything just not going in a fantastic way, so very much looking forward to the break now.”

Russell acknowledged that he will likely have to serve a second engine-related penalty during the remainder of the season, adding: “[We’re] maybe looking at Vegas, but it will be there at some point. But now we've got the choice to take it when we wish, and we'll be choosing a slightly easier track than this one.”

And in terms of what he and Mercedes intend to focus on next, Russell admitted that they hope to restore the form the team experienced earlier in the campaign as they continue to get to grips with their recent upgrade.

“The goal right now is to try and improve the car, because we were very much the dominant team for this whole season and, you look at the recent races, Red Bull have been very much the best,” he explained.

“In Baku, Max [Verstappen] was similar level to me. You go to Malaysia, totally different track, you go to Singapore, totally a different track again, and he's dominated the last two weekends, so right now as a team the goal is to try and get on top of these updates.”