George Russell explains bizarre electrical gremlins on way to P2

George Russell has explained the bizarre electrical problems which hampered his F1 Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver was impressively able to finish second in Bahrain despite battling several odd problems caused by technical issues inside the cockpit of his W16.

Russell escaped punishment after an investigation for a possible DRS infringement - caused by one of the many systems malfunctions he suffered.

“It was a really challenging race. We had all sorts of problems in the last 12 laps,” Russell told Sky Sports F1.

“We had a brake-by-wire failure, so when I was hitting the brakes it was going all the way to the floor! I had to do some re-sets, then it came back to me. Then it failed.

“For 10 laps in a row, going into every corner, I didn’t know if my brake was solid or going to the floor.

“It really compromised my race. Coming home P2 was mega.”

A transponder gremlin led to Russell repeatedly vanishing from the timing screens, though he stressed that did not result in any performance deficits.

“Every time I looked at my mirrors, and they were within a second, they had DRS. And I wasn’t using DRS, I was ahead,” he said.

“So that didn’t compromise, at all.”

George Russell escaped penalty in Bahrain

Russell was under investigation for opening the DRS on his Mercedes outside of the designated DRS zone, but escaped sanctions.

He explained post-race that when he hit the radio button it instead opened the DRS.

“They were technical problems. I backed off,” he said. “[It was open for] less than a second. I don’t know how it got triggered.

“There were problems with the transponder sending signals to the car.

“I was losing everything on my steering wheel, I had no data on it, I was really compromised on my last stint.

“It would be exceptionally harsh if [I was punished].”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff praised Russell’s “amazing” drive despite grappling with numerous problems.

“It’s the driver who saved the result today,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1. “The brake wire was kicking out and he saved it without losing time.

“That’s amazing. It’s almost indescribable if that happens to you. He nurtured the soft tyres well. He defended in the right ways. Hats off to George.”

On the DRS issue, Wolff added: “The DRS beacon failed. The automatic DRS, the F1 signal, basically failed. So you had to open it manually.

“He touched the button and closed it again immediately. There wasn’t any performance advantage.”