George Russell is set to start from the back of the grid at Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix due to a power unit change in a further blow to his championship hopes.

Russell suffered a power unit failure late in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia when running third, forcing him to retire while his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli finished second to extend his lead over the Brit at the top of the Drivers’ Championship to 84 points with seven rounds remaining.

Sky Sports News understands Russell will take on a new power unit on Friday in Singapore, which will see him exceed the season allocation of four for each driver, therefore incurring a penalty that will drop him to the rear of the grid.

Russell was expected to have a new power unit at the United States Grand Prix later this month that was going to include an upgrade, with Mercedes taking up the opportunity they were granted by the FIA’s ADUO (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities) system to improve their engine.

The ranking of Mercedes’ engine performance below Red Bull’s by the sport’s governing body has caused some dispute, with the Milton Keynes squad arguing that the Silver Arrows, who are dominating the Constructors’ Championship, already have the best power unit.

It is now understood that Mercedes’ upgraded power unit could be fast-tracked to be ready for Russell at the Singapore Grand Prix, which would at least prevent him having to incur further penalties later in the season for taking more new parts.

Both Mercedes drivers have suffered power unit problems throughout this season, with Antonelli having to start at the back of the grid at the Italian Grand Prix, where he stormed through the field from 19th to win.

Monza is one of the easiest tracks on the F1 calendar to overtake at whereas the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore is one of the toughest.

Singapore is a Sprint weekend so Russell’s back of the grid start will only apply to the Grand Prix on Sunday and not Saturday’s Sprint.

Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord says the Brackley-based outfit are unsure what caused their latest issue in Malaysia with Russell.

“Our investigation so far, we’ve got the car back, we’ve been able to do a first inspection, it’s clearly a mechanical failure on the power unit side,” he said in Mercedes’ race debrief video.

“Exactly what the root cause is we still need to determine, but the consequence was clear for all to see.”

‘That is absolutely the final straw for this title bid’

Speaking on Sky Sports News, Craig Slater said: “We’re still awaiting official confirmation from Mercedes that Russell will have to have this engine change, but we understand it’s almost an inevitability.

“This is not the place where you want to take a grid penalty because it is difficult to overtake in Singapore, so the reality is if Russell has to start at the back of the grid for the Grand Prix itself, he is going to find it very difficult to get anywhere near double-digit points in the race itself. It will be hard for him to get into the top five.

“Eighty-four points back, that is absolutely the final straw for this title bid. Key for Russell is finishing with a run of victories if he can somehow regain the upper-hand because that would send the signal for 2027 that he remains a viable contender and someone who can defeat young Kimi Antonelli. Russell needs to end this year on a strong note to give himself belief he can maybe win the Championship next year.”

Why did Mercedes suffer ‘worst weekend of the season’

Mercedes brought a major aerodynamic upgrade to Malaysia, their biggest since May’s Canadian Grand Prix, but were comfortably beaten by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who converted pole position into victory.

Toto Wolff described it as Mercedes’ “worst weekend of the season”, mainly due to Russell’s retirement which he stated was “not acceptable”.

But, in terms of outright pace, Mercedes were surprisingly outperformed by Red Bull and Lord puts it down to multiple factors.

“The combination potentially of updates, track temperature and track surface caused an interaction and a set of behaviours that meant the car was not in its usual happy state, that the drivers were having to turn the car on the throttle in the slow corners,” he explained.

“That was further exacerbating the challenges with tyre temperatures.

“That’s not an easy thing to unpick. It’s a bit of a 3D problem that we need to work through and then figure out exactly what steps we take going forward to make sure that we’ve got the base understanding that we need to understand that the update is working well and that we’re heading in the right direction in our development, not just for this year’s car but for next year as well.

“That’s work that’s going on at the moment back at the factory and also in Singapore in order to establish exactly what the plan is for the coming days and the race weekend in Singapore.”

Sky Sports F1’s live Singapore GP Sprint weekend schedule

Thursday October 8
11am: Drivers’ Press Conference
2pm: Paddock Uncut

Friday October 9
9am: Singapore GP Practice (session starts at 9.30am)*
11.30am: Team Bosses’ Press Conference
1pm: Singapore GP Sprint Qualifying (session starts at 1.30pm)*

Saturday October 10
9am: Singapore GP Sprint build-up*
10am: Singapore GP SPRINT*
1pm: Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying build-up
2pm: SINGAPORE GP QUALIFYING*
4pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday October 11
11.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Singapore GP build-up
1pm: THE SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX
3pm: Chequered Flag: Singapore GP reaction
4pm: Ted’s Notebook

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1 heads straight to Singapore for the last Sprint weekend of the season with track action starting this Friday, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime

England’s most-capped active player Marlie Packer will miss the WXV Global Series matches against Canada and the USA in North America later this month.

Two-time World Cup winner Packer, who has made 119 appearances for her country, will remain at home with partner and Red Roses team-mate Rosie Galligan due to give birth.

England play Canada in Toronto and Ottawa on October 17 and 24 respectively before a game versus USA in New Jersey on October 30.

Delaney Burns, Haidee Head and Sophie McQueen are ruled out through injury.

The Red Roses played three times in September, beating Australia and New Zealand around a 26-26 draw with Canada in Exeter that ended the hosts’ 39-match winning streak.

Head coach John Mitchell said: Our last two Tests against Canada and New Zealand have been humdingers that could have gone either way. They were hugely important to our development towards [the 2029 World Cup].

“Playing quality opposition and learning to adapt under pressure will help us raise our level and improve our game.

“The 32 players travelling to North America have a great opportunity to elevate our connections as a squad because playing away from home requires togetherness.

“We have shown a real hunger to compete and improve, and we’re excited to rip into our preparations and continue our rivalry with Canada in Toronto.”

England squad for North America tour

Forwards: Christiana Balogun (Bristol Bears, 1 cap), Sarah Bern (Bristol Bears, 87 caps), Hannah Botterman (Bristol Bears, 65 caps), Abi Burton (Trailfinders Women, 12 caps), May Campbell (Saracens, 7 caps), Mackenzie Carson (Gloucester-Hartpury, 31 caps), Kelsey Clifford (Saracens, 25 caps), Amy Cokayne (Sale Sharks, vice-capt, 94 caps) , Maddie Feaunati (Exeter Chiefs, 30 caps), Bryony Field (Saracens, 3 caps), Daisy Hibbert-Jones (Loughborough Lightning, 1 cap), Lilli Ives Campion (Loughborough Lightning, 11 caps), Sadia Kabeya (Loughborough Lightning, 34 caps), Haineala Lutui (Loughborough Lightning, 4 caps), Alex Matthews (Gloucester-Hartpury, vice-capt, 84 caps), Maud Muir (Gloucester-Hartpury, 56 caps), Demelza Short (Bristol Bears, 4 caps), Morwenna Talling (Sale Sharks, 32 caps)

Backs: Holly Aitchison (Sale Sharks, 50 caps), Jess Breach (Saracens, 59 caps), Zoe Harrison (Saracens, 73 caps), Tatyana Heard (Sale Sharks, 37 caps), Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury, 91 caps), Megan Jones (Trailfinders Women, capt, 41 caps), Ellie Kildunne (Bristol Bears, 65 caps), Claudia Moloney-MacDonald (Exeter Chiefs, 43 caps), Lucy Packer (Harlequins, 47 caps), Flo Robinson (Exeter Chiefs, 6 caps), Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning, 54 caps), Emma Sing (Gloucester-Hartpury, 17 caps), Mia Venner (Gloucester-Hartpury, 5 caps), Bo Westcombe-Evans (Trailfinders Women, 2 caps)

Carlos Alcaraz has won his first final since coming back from a long injury lay-off for a right wrist injury with success at the Japan Open.

Alcaraz, who hadn’t played a showpiece since getting beat by Jannik Sinner at the Monte-Carlo Masters in April successfully defended the title he won last year in Tokyo defeating Jiri Lehecka 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.

The Spaniard returned from injury in late August and made a run to the US Open quarter-finals, where he lost to Ben Shelton in a match that ended at 3:33am.

Alcaraz was kept on his toes by Czech star Lehecka, but he did enough to earn his first tour-level trophy since Doha in February.

“It’s extra special to win a title again. It’s been a while,” said the 23-year-old Alcaraz, who is the first man to successfully defend his Japan Open title since Pete Sampras in 1994. “To win a trophy in my second tournament back is amazing. I didn’t find my best tennis all week, but I found the right solutions to win. Today I played the best match of the entire tournament. I’m really happy.”

Lehecka, ranked 19th, was sharper at the start and led 3-1 but Alcaraz, who has been wearing a compression sleeve on his right arm since his return, hit back to level at 3-3 and showed his full repertoire of crowd-pleasing shots in the tie-break, winning five points in a row from 2-4.

He made his move in the seventh game of the second set with a break to lead 4-3 and looked delighted after clinching victory.

Alcaraz began the season by winning his seventh major title to complete the career Grand Slam at the Australian Open and also lifted the trophy in his next tournament in Doha before his injury lay-off.

“Obviously a lot of negative thoughts come to your mind,” Alcaraz said, when asked if he ever feared not tasting trophy success again during his time out injured. “If you are going to come back healthy, if you are going to come back the same as I was before. If I will be able to hit the ball normally without pain at all. A lot of thoughts came to my mind, but I tried to put those thoughts away all the time.

“My team and I knew that if I come back I was going to feel 100 per cent. If I feel something, [the comeback is] not going to be anything, so I just have to go full for every shot, every ball, and I trust [my team], I trust myself, and it worked out.”

Speaking on Sky Sports Tennis, British tennis star Liam Broady hailed the importance of Alcaraz’s victory in Asia, saying: “You can see the gratitude and jubilance in the team and for somebody like Carlos Alcaraz and his team. You might forgive them for not being too bothered about winning an ATP 500 but everything he’s been through the last few months, I’m sure this is a very special one for him.

“He was stuttering and struggling to find his game at the start of the week with a few three-set matches which he might normally have won easier.

“This is exactly what the future opponents of Alcaraz do not want to see is him gathering momentum whilst not potentially playing his best tennis.”

Alcaraz vs Lehecka: Tale of the Tape

‘I was shaking’ – Muchova denies Osaka in thriller

Wimbledon runner-up Karolina Muchova came through a thrilling fourth-round encounter at the WTA China Open, denying Naomi Osaka from a break down in both the first and third sets and eventually sealing her ninth match point to advance 7-5 1-6 7-6 (9-7) in a little under three hours.

“I honestly didn’t even believe I will finish the match,” Muchova said in her on-court interview.

“So many match points, I didn’t know how many. After a match point I was like, OK, I’m going for it, but then I think she always played great and steady, and didn’t make mistakes – unlike me, unfortunately! I was shaking. I’m happy that I made the last volley and it was really so close. Naomi could be standing here. It’s me, and I’m really grateful for it.”

Fourth seed Mirra Andreeva reached the quarter-finals of the WTA China Open with a straightforward win.

The 19-year-old Russian defeated Ukraine’s Daria Snigur 6-2 6-2 at Beijing’s National Tennis Center.

Next up for Andreeva will be compatriot and 19th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova who is 12 years her senior.

Stream tennis with no contract on NOW and the Sky Sports App. You can watch the ATP 1000 Shanghai Masters live on Sky Sports from Wednesday.