George Russell will not be taking on a new engine this weekend and therefore avoids a grid penalty.

The Briton was expected to follow the example of his teammate, Kimi Antonelli, and take on a new unit which would see him demoted to the back of the grid, as was the case for the Italian at Monza.

Instead, Russell will take on a new ADUO upgrade unit when Mercedes introduces its next aero upgrade.

"It won't be this weekend," he told reporters in Baku when asked about the new engine today. "I will take a penalty slightly further down the line.

"So, you know, there is a bit of a deficit," he continued, "but that is swings and roundabouts over the season because all the drivers have new engines at different points. So, one race you'll have a fresher one, one race you'll have an older one. So, you know, this one is coming to the end of its life, let's say. But yeah, it won't be long until, unfortunately or fortunately, you're taking a penalty because depending where you do it, it might not be so harmful."

Asked why he isn't taking the new engine this weekend, he replied: "Because we have the aero update coming, which means I would have had to have taken another penalty, because in Budapest, when I had to change my power unit, I also had to change my turbo there.

"Now I've... it's all a bit complicated," he added. "But long story short, if I took one now, I would have had to have taken another one."

Asked about his claim, post Madrid, that he had all but given up on the 2026 title, he said: I'm going to keep fighting every single race until, you know, it's mathematically impossible.

"It doesn't change how I go about my job," he insisted. "I want to try and win every single race and put it on pole every single race. That's my goal. That's what I'm working towards every single weekend, and what happens thereafter will be.

"There's obviously a huge deficit," he admitted, "but it's not even really a consideration right now. It's just the performance is the biggest priority."

Asked if he is now putting less pressure on himself, he said: "I don't think I was really putting any pressure on myself before from a championship standpoint. I was putting pressure on myself from a performance perspective.

"I'm in this position in the championship because the performance hasn't been strong enough," he added. "It's been the case for a while where the pressure has come from trying to improve the performance rather than thinking, "I need to fight for the championship", because you can only fight for a championship if you've got the performance."

Of course, the man leading the championship is teammate Antonelli. Russell was asked about the Italian youngster's performance this year, and in particular whether he is better suited to the new formula.

"I think, you know, of course Kimi is extremely talented," he replied. "You know, he's an incredible driver and has been fast his whole career.

"I think his driving style is very similar to what he had last year, and I think with just how things have fallen this year, it's kind of the perfect driving style for these cars.

"You know, you look last year, there are definitely trends. You look at Brazil last year, Kimi had a really strong race and Lando won in Brazil, and they are two drivers who are always very strong on the low-grip tracks, and they are two drivers who are arguably the best-performing drivers of this season.

"So let's see. You know, he's an amazing driver and he was, of course, doing extremely well last year as well. Let's see next year if it changes or not, but certainly his natural driving style suits very well for this regulation."