George Russell says a deployment problem on the first lap of the Mexico City Grand Prix took Mercedes out of contention for a strong result.
Mercedes driver George Russell blamed a first-lap power deployment fault for ruining his Mexico City Grand Prix. He took sixth and eight points, after a 10-second penalty for hitting Isack Hadjar, and slipped to third in the Drivers' Championship.
George Russell has said a deployment problem on the opening lap of the Mexico City Grand Prix hampered his chance to win. He finished sixth and collected eight points.
Russell missed pole position by 0.009s to Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton in qualifying, and made a quick start at lights out. A deployment problem then cost him multiple places. Russell then fought Isack Hadjar for fifth place and touched the back of the Red Bull, spinning him. The stewards gave Russell a 10-second time penalty for the contact.
What Russell said
Russell began by congratulating Kimi Antonelli on a thoroughly deserved championship, then called his own race very disappointing.
- He said he made a good start.
- A fault then left him without full deployment on the straight.
- The loss of positions ended his hopes of a strong result.
Russell called the compromised race frustrating and said the cause was "outside of my control". He added that Mercedes would reset after the weekend and come back stronger in Brazil, with the Constructors' Championship still to win.
Pit stop and championship cost
Russell kept McLaren's Lando Norris behind before his pit stop, but a longer stop dropped him from fifth. Antonelli's third place then took second in the Drivers' Championship away from him.
Wolff takes responsibility
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told written media after the race that Russell was distraught when they met at the scales. Wolff called it a catastrophic moment for a racing driver and said the afternoon reflected Russell's season.
Wolff said the car had the pace to win, but that the team let Russell down on the first straight, adding that the energy delivery was not what Mercedes expected.
Russell has borne the brunt of Mercedes' reliability struggles this season. In Belgium, he suffered poor deployment that likewise saw him caught up in contact with another driver.
