Mercedes confirm Russell hydraulic failure after red flag

Ewan Gale
Friday 24 February 2023 15:39 - Updated: 07:24

Mercedes has confirmed George Russell suffered a hydraulic failure during the second session of the second day of the Bahrain pre-season test.

The British driver ground to a halt at the exit of turn 10 with just over 90 minutes remaining having been stuck in fourth gear throughout the middle sector, with a dashboard message reading 'hydraulic failure'.

But there would have been hope that the issue was simply an erroneous sensor that would have been quickly fixed or replaced when the W14 was returned to the garage.

That, however, is not the case with a Mercedes spokesperson confirming the failure, suggesting that it was 'highly unlikely' Russell would return to the track.

We’ve confirmed it was a hydraulic failure that caused George’s car to stop on track.

That’s likely to be the end of our running for today.

Back on track tomorrow. 💪 pic.twitter.com/JdSKLzaUGR

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) February 24, 2023