George Russell will lose his sixth starting position on the grid and start the United States Grand Prix from the pit lane after Mercedes had to make changes to his car following his qualifying crash.

Mercedes has brought an improved floor to Austin for both Russell and teammate Lewis Hamilton, but does not have spare versions of the new parts.

The team confirmed this Sky Sports F1 on Sunday morning that Russell, who seriously damaged his car in a heavy crash at Turn 19, was forced to revert to an earlier specification of the W15, resulting in a breach of parc ferme conditions and a pit lane start.

The scale of the task to change the specification resulted in a further breach of the rules which would also result in a pit lane start, with Mercedes remaining on the car after the cut-off time two hours after the end of qualifying work.

A Mercedes spokesperson said: “After George’s accident in qualifying we had to work on the car overnight during the car period. He will therefore start from the pit lane today.

“The workload associated with that was due to getting back on spec to what we were running in Singapore.”

The FIA ​​​​has yet to officially confirm Russell’s start in the pit lane, but will do so before the start of the race live on Sky Sports F1 at 8 p.m.

Hamilton, who suffered a disastrous qualifying finish as he finished 19th, will now start from 17th, with RB’s Liam Lawson relegated to the back of the grid due to fines for exceeding his allowed number of engine parts.

Hamilton said after qualifying that he would consider starting from the pit lane to change his setup in an attempt to improve his pace, but Mercedes appear to have currently opted to keep the seven-time world champion on the grid.

As a result of Russell’s pit lane start, Pierre Gasly is promoted to sixth on the grid – the highest starting position for an Alpine driver this season.

Lando Norris will start from pole as the McLaren driver attempts to reduce Max Verstappen’s 54-point world championship lead, with the Red Bull driver joining the Briton on the front row.

Sky Sports F1’s live GP schedule in the United States

Sunday October 20
6.30 pm: Grand Prix Sunday: build-up of the United States GP*
8 p.m.: THE GRAND PRIZE OF THE UNITED STATES*
10 p.m.: Checkered flag: United States GP response
11pm: Ted’s notebook

*also live on the Sky Sports Main Event (race build-up on Sunday from 7.15pm)

Watch the United States GP on Sunday at 8pm, with build-up from 6.30pm live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month membership – No contract, cancel anytime