George Russell's title hopes were dealt a major blow when his Mercedes suffered a suspected power unit failure and he retired at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Russell had been running third, one place behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli and behind safety car protection when his W17 pulled to the side at the start of lap 51 of 55. The retirement, Russell's third DNF of the season, left him 84 points adrift of Antonelli after he went into the race 66 points behind. Antonelli finished runner-up to Max Verstappen, who won the rain-affected race that was delayed by one hour and 33 minutes, and the safety car had earlier been called when Alex Albon stopped with a gearbox failure requiring crane removal. The result hands Antonelli a significantly larger lead in the drivers' standings and removes a realistic title challenge from Russell this weekend.
