Formula 1 driver George Russell is unable to finish the Sao Paulo Grand Prix

George Russell failed to repeat his Brazilian heroics of last season as he did not finish the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday - a race he won in 2022.

Russell recorded his fourth DNF of the season as Mercedes' struggles continue as they 'obviously got something very wrong this weekend'.

The driver from Tydd St Giles had a promising start to the weekend as a string of fast lap times in practice sent him to third on the timesheets, however, things went downhill from there.

Despite reaching the final stage of qualifying, a biblical rainstorm ruined Russell's chances of pulling off an epic lap and, as a result, he could only manage sixth, later dropping to eighth after he received a grid penalty for impeding in the pit lane.

Russell's fortunes improved in the Sprint Shootout as he took a decent fourth place after beating his team-mate Lewis Hamilton and leaving him in a good position for the race later on Saturday.

Starting alongside Red Bull's Sergio Perez, Russell had an incredible start and made it up to second place on the opening lap with a brazen move on fellow Brit Lando Norris.

However, Mercedes' pace dropped off somewhat and Russell found himself falling back down the order to fourth as the other 'well fast' cars left the 25-year-old behind.

In the Grand Prix itself, Russell made up two positions on the chaotic start and gained a further place on the red flag restart as he passed Lance Stroll.

However, Russell's tyres began to falter and he once again lost positions so Mercedes took the decision to take an early pit stop which brought him out into 11th.

Sadly a fresh pair of medium tyres did little to help Russell's pace and, although he gained positions due to other drivers pitting, he was still being passed by others.

After a switch to the soft tyres, Russell's car then began to struggle and Mercedes took the decision to retire him from the race.

Russell said" "We obviously got something very wrong. We’re not sure what that was yet but the pace just hasn’t been there.

"You clearly don’t go from a podium-worthy car to one that is one second off the front, so it’s been very strange.

"In the end, we were suffering from high oil temperatures in the power unit and that caused us to retire. That topped off what was a difficult day.

"We need to now get back to the factory, regroup, and work through what we did to get on top of it before the final two races of the season."

The 2023 Formula One season continues on November 17-19 for the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix.