Mercedes explain why George Russell was forced to retire from F1 British Grand Prix

George Russell’s F1 British Grand Prix came to a frustratingly early conclusion.

"Retire the car," was the order from Russell’s race engineer on Lap 34 at Silverstone.

A suspected water system issue was the reason for his retirement, Mercedes confirmed.

Russell told Sky Sports when he first noticed a problem: "Probably about 10 laps before I had to retire. 

"I had alarms on my steering wheel for some sort of water cooling failure.

"I don’t know what to say. The car had been so good.

"It was a long race, I struggled a bit around the damp patches. Gutting."

Russell had started the British Grand Prix on pole position and was running in fourth when he retired.

Russell was called into the pits and his team gave him the devastating news he would have to retire, before he reacted by swearing loudly.

Russell had entered his home race by winning last weekend in Austria but any hope of a repeat result ended in the most lacklustre way.

But his teammate Lewis Hamilton was later shedding tears of joy, when he sensationally won his home grand prix for the ninth time, at the final attempt with Mercedes before his 2025 exit.