George Russell could escape penalty as FIA change more F1 rules

George Russell could avoid being slapped with a penalty as bosses make even more changes to F1’s rules ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. F1 teams have agreed to raise the number of components allowed over the course of a season which will come as a boost to the Mercedes star.

It means drivers can now use four Internal Combustion Engines (ICE), Turbo Chargers, MGU-H and MGU-K’s over 2023. Teams had only been allowed three parts all season which had left some drivers already teetering on the edge of sanctions after just three races.

Russell is expected to take new elements after suffering engine damage at the Australian Grand Prix. The former Williams star was forced to pull off track and retire despite leading the race in the opening stages.

After the race in Melbourne, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted the issue had caused some concern. He explained: “Bang! It’s a proper failure but we don’t know what it was yet. I think it was on one of the cylinders.”

Days later, the German newspaper Auto Motor Und Sport reported that the engine was irreparable. An investigation found the cause of the failure was a piece of debris getting stuck in the cylinder.

This caused a fire inside the machine which destroyed many key components. Usually, this would have left the 25-year-old just two issues away from a penalty but the new rules update has given him some extra wiggle room.

However, Russell is not the only one to benefit from the increase in parts with several other drivers also suffering problems. Nyck de Vries, Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg have all been helped out.

However, the number of Control Electronics will remain the same in a blow to Ferrari. Charles Leclerc was hit with a penalty at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for exceeding the season-long limit already after problems plagued the team in Bahrain.

The updates are the second change made ahead of this weekend’s race in Baku after tweaks to the race format were given the green light. It means a new sprint qualifying session will feature for the first time ever at a Grand Prix weekend.

Friday’s qualifying session will set the grid for Sunday’s race with the sprint becoming a standalone event with a separate three-part knockout session on Saturday.