George Russell was left to ponder what might have been after the Japanese Grand Prix, a race that slipped through his fingers. The defeat was undone not just by an ill-timed safety car, but also by technical glitches.

After the race, Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff revealed that a critical fault struck at the worst possible moment. "It was a bug in the electrical system in the software to try to give him an advantage," he told Sky F1. "What it gave was a super clip that slowed the car down, and this is where he unexpectedly lost the position to Leclerc, so we didn't cover ourselves in glory with George's race".

The Briton’s loss of pace, triggered by a system meant to boost performance, allowed Charles Leclerc to sweep past, another blow in a race already spiraling away.

Russell’s frustration after the race was palpable. After a poor start – something that has become a norm at Mercedes – dropped him down the order, he fought back brilliantly and briefly seized control when Oscar Piastri pitted. But the timing of his own stop proved cruel.

Moments later, a safety car for Oliver Bearman’s heavy crash wiped out his advantage. "Yeah, obviously our starts, as normal, poor," Russell told reporters. "Safety car, one lap different and we would have won the race. So, that’s part of racing".

"But thereafter, it was just issues after one another. I couldn’t recharge my battery at the safety car restart, so Lewis just flew by me. And then I had the issue later in the race with Charles and the battery, and I just had no speed, and he passed me. So, yeah, just one thing after another".

Despite his earlier radio frustration over strategy, Russell struck a more philosophical tone afterward, although he was determined to review how events unfolded. "I need to look at it," he added. "I don’t really know why I pitted at that point, I think Charles was coming. But, what can you do? That is pure luck".

"If that was one lap later, we would have won the race. And if there was no crash, we would have regretted not pitting at that point". "In racing, sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it goes against you".

"It’s just at the moment, it feels like the last two weekends every issue we’re having is on my side and I’m the one going through that pain". Instead of victory or a podium, Russell had to settle for fourth – while team-mate Kimi Antonelli surged to win and take the championship lead, compounding a bitter afternoon for Mercedes’ other contender.