George Russell has been forced to change his power unit ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix after a crack on his engine caused a water leak in qualifying.

Russell qualified a disappointing seventh for Sunday’s race, although he will start sixth ahead of team-mate Kimi Antonelli after the championship leader was given a three-grid place penalty for speeding.

Russell came to a halt at the end of Q3 as the team detected a loss of water pressure, which means the Mercedes driver will take on his fourth power unit of 2026 but will not be hit with a grid penalty as the change is to the same specification and does not take him above the season-limit of four engines.

Mercedes believe the water leak happened after Russell ran over the exit kerb at Turn 4 during his final run in Q3, where he did not improve his lap time.

“We lost water pressure and I had a water leak. When I stopped on track, the car was leaking a load of water,” Russell, who is 50 points behind championship leader and team-mate Kimi Antonelli, told Sky Sports F1.

“Fingers crossed it doesn’t affect anything for the race.”

It is the latest unreliability issue for Mercedes which has impacted both Russell and Antonelli in recent races.

Both drivers have lost valuable points due to engine-related retirements this season but Russell was “lost for words” at the previous race in Belgium after a bug in the power unit software led to a lack of straight line speed performance and a race-ending collision with Lewis Hamilton at Spa-Francorchamps.

Mercedes have fixed the bug for this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

“The software is the same for all the cars, and it was there in every car, but it affected George more than Kimi,” explained Mercedes technical director Simone Resta on Friday.

“We also need to bear in mind that, when comparing their performance in the last few races, Kimi was on a fresher power unit, which is, of course, always a bit better than quite a used power unit.

“That will change in the next races when we start to have a fresher power unit on George’s side. So, there’s a bit of everything. There’s a bit of software, but there’s also Kimi being out of phase with George’s programme. You sum up everything when you look at the final result.”

Russell: Would have been nice to be higher up

But, even prior to Saturday’s water leak in Hungary, Russell was off the pace compared to team-mate Antonelli – a continuation of their pace gap during the European run of events.

Russell will start one place ahead of Antonelli and will look to make inroads into his 50-point championship deficit but the British driver is unsure how easy it will be to get into the fight for the podium to potentially limit the damage.

“We were probably even further on Friday but we had the strongest race pace, which tends to say it’s not a car problem but a tyre problem,” he said.

“Time will tell in the race if we struck the right balance between the qualifying setup and race setup. We probably know we could make the car faster in qualifying trim at the expense of race performance.

“It’s going to be difficult to overtake. It would have been nice to be higher up.”

Sky Sports F1’s Hungarian GP schedule

Sunday July 26
7.35am: F3 Feature Race
9.05am: Porsche Supercup
10.20am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Hungarian GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
2pm: THE HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Hungarian GP reaction: Chequered Flag*
5pm: Ted’s Notebook*

*Also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1 is in Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix with Sunday’s race at 2pm and build-up from 12.30pm, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime

Mitchell Marsh and Dan Lawrence struck brutal half-centuries as SunRisers Leeds overcame Southern Brave in a tight encounter at Headingley to register their first win of the competition.

Opener Marsh smashed six sixes and four fours in a knock of 69 off 34 balls before Lawrence’s unbeaten 51 from 25 balls took the hosts to 187-5.

Sunrisers captain Zak Crawley was dismissed for a golden duck as England spinner Adil Rashid claimed his third wicket of the afternoon after earlier removing Marsh and fellow opener Ryan Rickelton (37).

Harry Brook was then clean bowled for three by Marcus Stoinis before Lawrence’s efforts and a rapid 21 from Tom Alsop helped the SunRisers finish strongly.

Ben McKinney led Brave’s response with 44 from 23 deliveries, while fellow opener Jamie Smith hit 30 from 18 and Australian Stoinis plundered 31 from 16.

Tristan Stubbs kept the visitors in contention with an unbeaten 43 from 20 balls. But the home team held on for a first victory of this year’s tournament, while Brave remain winless after two matches.

In the women’s match, Southern Brave made it two wins from two with a five-wicket success over SunRisers Leeds.

Jemimah Rodrigues made an unbeaten 42 from 34 deliveries, while Australia captain Sophie Molineux chipped in with 21 from 17 as the visitors chased down 117 with four balls to spare.

Bryony Smith’s 34-ball 48, which included six fours and a six, underpinned the Sunrisers’ total of 116.

Kiwi strokemaker Ravindra smashes 98 from 44 balls

Rachin Ravindra stroked the joint fourth-highest score in the history of the men’s competition to propel Welsh Fire to a 15-run victory over MI London in front of a record crowd at Cardiff.

The Oval-based franchise have won the men’s competition in each of the last three summers but their star-studded bowling line-up had no answer to Ravindra, whose 44-ball 98 left the Sophia Gardens crowd purring before he took a stunning caught-and-bowled to take the pivotal wicket of James Vince.

Ravindra appeared to be batting on a different surface, racing to his half-century in 22 balls and bringing up the milestone by dispatching Rashid Khan over the midwicket boundary.

With Joe Root (29 from 26) playing second fiddle, Ravindra kept his foot on the gas, hitting four sixes in the space of eight deliveries and passing Jonny Bairstow’s record (86 not out) for the highest score by a Fire batter in the men’s competition.

Jordan Cox played a lively cameo after Root was stumped off Khan but all eyes were on Ravindra as he approached his century, only for the Kiwi strokemaker to fall for 98 from the 98th delivery of the innings, skewing a catch to Jason Roy off the impressive Trent Boult (1-16).

In reply, Will Jacks fell early to Sam Cook but the visitors looked well-placed at 72-1 after 46 deliveries before Lockie Ferguson (4-26) struck twice in consecutive balls, castling Roy and then dismissing Sam Curran for a golden duck.

Ferguson had his third when he removed the dangerous Nicholas Pooran before Ravindra produced a piece of magic to dismiss Vince (66 from 38) caught and bowled when the match was in the balance.

Fire’s bowlers held their nerve at the death as Rutherford (24 not out from 18) flexed his muscles, Ferguson returning to clean up Tom Curran and secure his team’s second win of the campaign.

Ravindra, the Meerkat Match Hero, said: “We know how good the MI London side is and the history and pedigree of their team, and for us to put on a performance on our home ground, the way we played, was fantastic.”

Sophie Devine and Georgia Wareham headlined a powerful display from Welsh Fire to sweep aside MI London by 60 runs in the women’s Hundred at Sophia Gardens.

Fire were beaten by Southern Brave in their opener but bounced back by posting 177-4 – the third highest total in the tournament’s history.

Captain Devine made 52 from 29 balls and Wareham 43 from 20 after openers Georgia Voll and Ella McCaughan contributed 42 and 27 respectively.

Grace Potts then claimed three wickets for 24 as MI London crumbled to 117 all out to suffer their second successive defeat.

What’s next?

Sunday’s Hundred double-header sees Manchester Super Giants take on Birmingham Phoenix at Old Trafford.

The women’s game starts at 11am, while the men’s match is due to commence at 2.30pm.

Trent Rockets face London Spirit at Trent Bridge. The women’s game starts at 2.30pm, while the men’s match is due to commence at 6pm.

Catch both fixtures live on Sky Sports. Watch The Hundred and more contract-free on NOW

South Korean golfer Jenny Shin maintained her five-shot lead at the Women’s Scottish Open after Saturday’s third round, moving closer to her first LPGA Tour victory since the Texas Shootout more than 10 years ago.

Shin, who has been in front since the 18-hole mark, produced a round of 71 (one-under-par) on day three.

She was at 12-under-par, five ahead of Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn, who hit a bogey-free 69 to climb from fourth place to second.

Japan’s Erika Hara (71) and Germany’s Esther Henseleit (73) were a further two shots back on five under par, while Korea’s A Lim Kim sat fifth on three under, with Japan’s Miyu Yamashita and 2024 champion Lauren Coughlin another shot further behind.

“That was a very tough round, I was quite nervous for the first five holes, so I’m really glad that I was able to finish the day in red numbers. It was a pretty boring and nerve-wracking day at the same time,” said Shin.

“That was a bit of a hiccup on the 10th hole. I changed my setup this week because of all the wind, but out of habit I lined up the putt and reverted to my old setup. I shut the face. I knew what I was doing, so I was able to get back into it pretty easily.

“I think the key is definitely hitting the fairways and then giving myself opportunities to get on the green. I have a pretty decent short game, so I wasn’t too worried when I did miss the green because I did it in the right spots.

“I’ve never been in this position [a five-shot lead], so I don’t know how to feel. I’m going to go and practice for a little bit and get a good feel for tomorrow so I’m not such a mess in the morning. The first putt on my first hole today I didn’t really know what I was looking at, so hopefully tomorrow will be better because I experienced all the nerves on the front nine today.”

Solheim Cup star Henseleit said: “It’s been playing tough all week. I feel like on those first two holes, I got a bit unlucky with my lies. I had to accept that bogey, and then I played pretty good after.

“I didn’t really hit it very close today, so didn’t have many birdie chances, but I managed to get a couple on the back nine.”

Watch the final round of the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open LIVE on Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports + from midday on Sunday. Get Sky Sports or stream golf with no contract

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