RaceFans has reported:

George Russell hopes to recover to the top six in Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix after qualifying at the back of the grid. The Mercedes driver said he would be satisfied to reach the points, with a seventh- or sixth-place finish possible depending on whether Isack Hadjar receives a penalty.

“It’s going to be challenging, for sure,” Russell said. He pointed to Kimi Antonelli’s recent results as examples of how much a recovery can vary: Antonelli started 19th at Monza and won, then began 16th in Baku and climbed to 10th with about 15 laps remaining. Russell described those as “same driver, similar track and two very different circumstances.”

“So I hope I can get into the points, I hope I can [reach] P7, P6 depending on whether Hadjar’s got a penalty or not,” he said.

Russell is using Mercedes’ older aerodynamic specification in Singapore while the team examines how it compares with new components introduced the previous week, which produced mixed results. He crashed while leading the sprint race in Singapore and said his car had not felt the same since.

In qualifying, Russell completed several laps mainly to check whether the car felt as it had the day before, after the crash earlier that morning. “It didn’t quite feel the same in all honesty,” he said.

Russell said he had shown strong pace the previous day, running in the top three on almost every lap he completed. In qualifying, however, he was not in the top five at any point in the session. “So I need to try and understand why that was,” he said.

The Singapore Grand Prix follows qualifying and sprint racing on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. Russell’s target of a top-six result would require him to make up positions from his starting place at the rear of the grid.