George Russell faced a difficult final few laps on the way to second place in the Bahrain Grand Prix, when it appeared his Mercedes was suffering from a brake-by-wire failure.
The Briton was running in second place after overtaking Charles Leclerc at the start of the race, and was in a good position following a mid-race Safety Car.
Mercedes elected to pit him for a set of soft tyres which enabled him to attempt a move on race leader Oscar Piastri at the restart, however, the McLaren driver defended well and managed to hold him off.
In the final few laps of the race Russell encountered problems, with his transponder on the F1 timing screen failing and then the dashboard on his steering wheel encountering problems.
Discussions over the team radio reveal the extent of the problems that Russell faced in those final laps, as it was not clear whether his Mercedes would finish the race.
- READ MORE: The five worst moments of George Russell’s career in Formula 1
Unheard George Russell team radio details extent of Bahrain GP issues
Russell was in conversation with his engineer Marcus Dudley over the problem, who informed the Briton that he must now use DRS manually due to the timing system glitch.
| Driver | Engineer |
| Dudley: “We have an issue affecting DRS. It’s a timing issue only. I give you a default to override it. Once we do it, you have to wait until I tell you you can use DRS.” | |
| Dudley: “For me to tell you when you have DRS, if we’re in that position, Leclerc won’t be.” | |
| Dudley: “George, there is a chance we lose the dash. Just keep driving as normal if that happens.” | |
| Russell: “I accidentally opened the RS. I closed it straight away, gained nothing.” | |
| Dudley: “So, correction, George, if we lose the dash, we won’t be able to use any of the buttons on the steering wheel, just shifts.” |
This manifested into a brake-by-wire (BBW) issue for Russell later in the race when he came under pressure from Lando Norris, with Dudley coaching him on which switches he needs to use to prevent any further issues.
| Driver | Engineer |
| Russell: “B-B-W passive.” | |
| Dudley: “AFM, that is real.” | |
| Russell: “It should still brake as well as normal, no?” | |
| Dudley: “Blue default 10. Blue default 1-0.” | |
| Russell: “What’s going on?” | |
| Russell: “Do I need to change brake lines? It’s back, it’s back. | |
| Dudley: “Affirm.” | |
| Russell: “What’s the gap to Leclerc?” | |
| Dudley: “1.9 to Leclerc. He’s under pressure from Norris. Now 2.1.” | |
| Russell: “It’s gone again. B-B-W. Gone again.” | |
| Dudley: “Blue, default 10, on off again.” | |
| Russell: “Do I need to keep the blue default stand on? If it happens?” | |
| Dudley: “Yeah.” |
It was only after Russell got past the chequered flag that he revealed how difficult it was to drive with the brake issues.
| Driver | Engineer |
| Dudley: “Get in there. Yes! Well done, mate.” | |
| Russell: “Three wheels on my wagon.” | |
| Wolff: “George, great job to bring that car over the line with soft tyres and with basically that B-B brake by wire going passive. Really great, great, great, great. Great job. Thank you. That was not easy. Well done.” | |
| Russell: “I think that blue default 10 button might have been worn out. Get a new one for the next race.” | |
| Dudley: “Alright, tell me about it.” | |
| Russell: “The most challenging part is the brakes were just on and off. They were consistently not working. It would have been OK. Just didn’t know what I was going to get.” |
George Russell escapes post-race penalty for unauthorised DRS usage
Russell was put under investigation by the FIA Stewards after the race for his unauthorised use of the DRS during the race, as he did not use it when within a second of Piastri.
Data from the race showed that Russell activated the DRS for a distance of 37 meters on the start/finish straight, which gained him 0.02s. The Stewards said Russell gave up 0.28s at the next corner to compensate.
In their ruling, the Stewards acknowledged that Russell made a mistake because the manual override button is also the same button used to activate the backup radio.
They decided not to apply a sporting penalty as no sporting advantage was gained, which was in line with the previous precedents for similar unauthorised usage of DRS.
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