F1 2026: George Russell ruined by software bug at Japanese Grand Prix

George Russell looks upset at the Japanese GP — Photo: © IMAGO

Mercedes

Computer says no as F1 star George Russell ruined by software bug at Japanese Grand Prix

Driver error or technical mishap?

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Tuesday 31 March 2026 12:55

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The blame for George Russell's Japanese Grand Prix misfortune has been laid. But was it the fault of the driver or a technical error with his W17?

Russell was beaten by his teenage team-mate at Suzuka, where Kimi Antonelli achieved his second consecutive race victory while the British driver languished down in fourth.

Subsequently, Antonelli has taken the championship lead, becoming the youngest driver ever to do so. But while the Italian earns his plaudits, is it fair to assume Russell is now the weaker driver?

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Antonelli benefitted from the safety car on lap 22, where he made his stop and re-emerged in first place. Russell meanwhile, struggled on the restart and slipped behind Lewis Hamilton and into fourth.

The reason for Russell's lowly position wasn't a sudden loss of his own capabilities, however, rather a bug in his W17 (of the software kind, not a cricket).

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Mercedes software bug at Suzuka

Mercedes' trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin explained exactly how Russell lost position to Hamilton, and said: "Kimi's fortune was George's misfortune. Had we stopped George a lap later, he would have retained the lead for the restart.

"As it happened, he dropped to P3 and lost a further place to Lewis when he hit the harvesting limit too early in the lap and had insufficient battery for the restart.

"He then had another frustrating issue where a bug in the software code, triggered by a button press and a gear shift at the same time, caused the power unit to go into superclip and charge the battery which allowed Charles to pass. He battled back to P4 but it was a frustrating afternoon for George.

"Clearly there is a lot that we need to work on and understand in the next few weeks. We’ve made a great start to the season, but our competitors are closing in.

"Happily, we have several areas of improvement and we will make the maximum use of the gap in the calendar to develop in the places where we are not strong enough."

F1 Mercedes George Russell Japanese Grand Prix Andrew Shovlin