George Russell: "Obvious choice" to use the former car as Mercedes divides specifications for Singapore.

To gain a better understanding of the Sepang package, the team will split its two cars. Russell remarked that this was an obvious decision, especially since he would incur a grid penalty for a change in power unit components in Singapore, likely starting from the back.

"In fact, I initiated the discussion before the race on Sunday," Russell disclosed in Singapore. "When the failure occurred, it was pretty clear-cut, because we were somewhat divided about it before the race, and I was leaning more towards this decision even then, but now it’s a total no-brainer.

"There are no indications suggesting the upgrade was ineffective, and we know the car we had in Baku was the same as the one in Budapest and Zandvoort, where we secured pole by eight tenths in Baku, and were four tenths off the pace in Budapest.

"Those variations, even with a consistent car and your competitors using the same car, are significant; you could see fluctuations of plus or minus one second, so we’re quite certain it’s specific to Malaysia.

"Considering Red Bull's pace, they clearly excelled compared to their performance this season relative to the other teams. When comparing our pace to McLaren and Ferrari, it wasn’t drastically different; it wasn’t significantly out of sync.

"This engine penalty this weekend gives us a great chance to revert; it's the car I won with in Baku."

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, George Russell, Mercedes

Antonelli has committed to the package for the entire weekend and will not revert to the older specification, even if the sprint sessions suggest that the pre-Sepang components provide comparable performance levels.

The championship leader is optimistic that the new parts will show an improvement in performance, asserting that Sepang was ultimately an outlier event.

"The data from Sepang told a different story, but I believe that it was somewhat of an outlier because the track surface was incredibly rough. In certain corners, we were even missing parts of the tarmac.

"Additionally, it was extremely hot; at times, the track temperature exceeded 60 degrees. Therefore, I see it as an outlier, and I truly think this weekend will be more representative.

"With cooler temperatures and a much better state of the tarmac, I anticipate a solid test because we faced considerable challenges in low-speed sections at Sepang, and this track has plenty of low-speed corners. So we’ll see how it goes.

"We’ll have two distinct cars with two different packages, which will be interesting for a direct comparison.

"I believe there is a genuine improvement [with the new package], we just didn’t fully uncover it in Sepang. That’s what made it such an outlier.

"Hopefully, this weekend we can comprehend it better, place the car in a more advantageous position, and tap into its full potential."