George Russell concluded Sunday’s F1 GP in Mexico City feeling frustrated after his race took a rather disappointing turn. Despite finishing P7, he was left upset following an incident at Turn 1 — Verstappen and Leclerc cut the corner while battling for first place. Russell voiced his dismay multiple times over the radio, calling out the unfair advantage that drivers gain by cutting corners without facing any consequences from the stewards.
Frustration over Turn 1 incident for Russell at F1 Mexico City GP
“I really struggle to understand how three drivers can just skip the first corner and continue it,” Russell said post-race.
“It punishes the drivers who have driven correctly. If you can risk everything with no downside, that’s what drivers are going to do, and it’s always been the case here in Mexico. People couldn’t make Turn 1, so I was frustrated then.”
The Mercedes driver found himself nearly caught in the duel between Hamilton and Verstappen, as both drivers made contact. This contact caused Hamilton to go off track and led Russell to lose two places to steer clear of the chaos.
“I got unlucky with Max and Lewis when they came together. Max went off the track, came back on, I was on the outside, lost two positions. So, in the end, just a very bad day.”
Stuck in a DRS train
During the race, the driver found himself in a DRS train and asked the Silver Arrows team to let him swap positions with his teammate Kimi Antonelli, who was ahead of him. He aimed to overtake Ollie Bearman, but the request came too late, and he couldn’t pass the Haas. Instead, he eventually lost out to Piastri, before allowing Antonelli back through after the second stops.
“I was in the DRS train behind Kimi when he was behind Ollie,” he explained. “I could see he was struggling; he was sliding. I felt good, and I thought I could have attacked Ollie, who had no DRS. But I think we left it too long.”
The team eventually swapped positions between the Mercedes pair, but the delay proved costly.
“We spent six or seven laps before we decided to invert the positions, and by that point, my car, my brakes, my tyres were overheating. So yeah, we probably should have just left it by that point.”
The key issue
After a challenging 71-lap race, Russell finished in seventh place, just behind his teammate. The key moment of the race occurred on Lap 1, which ultimately determined the outcome for the drivers on the grid.
For Russell, the issue started when he locked up his rear tires in Turn 1, allowing Bearman to take over his position — as a result, he found himself stuck in a DRS train, racing closely with several other drivers.
