George Russell will start Singapore Grand Prix from the back of the grid

George Russell will start from the back of the grid in Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix after his Mercedes required a new engine. 

The British driver had qualified in 11th position on Saturday having been eliminated in Q2 but will now start from the pit lane behind everyone else.

Mercedes have changed all components of his car’s W13 E Performance power unit, taking him further over the maximum allocation of parts permitted for the season.

Russell, 24, had already exceeded the limit with all parts except for his exhaust.

It comes after Russell encountered technical problems during the qualifying session on the Marine Bay Street Circuit.

The Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the car’s engine was still delivering power to his wheels even when he’d come fully off the throttle.

Russell said: ‘The grip felt good, I just couldn’t get around any corners. I kept understeering off, which is such a shame.

‘We’ve seen some indications in the data and I hope we can resolve it.

‘Obviously it’s disappointing for myself and the whole team as the car was looking strong here.

‘Lewis [Hamilton] was really fast but unfortunately I couldn’t make it work.’

Hamilton qualified in third place behind Charles Leclerc of Ferrari on pole and Sergio Perez of Red Bull in second.

Championship leader Max Verstappen could only finish eighth because he was left short of fuel after abandoning a hot lap because of an error.