George Russell shares a long statement after concerning footage from the Mexico GP, and one sentence really stands out.
George Russell shared a heartfelt message after emotional clips of him appeared online following the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Russell finished sixth in Mexico City on a day when his Mercedes teammate, Kimi Antonelli, won the Drivers’ Championship for the first time. This race showed a lot about Russell’s tough second half of the season. He struggled with battery problems at the start that cost him several places and then got a controversial 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Isack Hadjar.
After the race, Mercedes posted a video showing team boss Toto Wolff hugging a very emotional Russell, who was allowed to skip his press duties — with the team paying his £5,000 fine.
When Russell won the first race of the season in Australia, his team radio sounded like a driver with the best car and hope that this year would be his time to win the title. But in Mexico, he was clearly frustrated and confused by the car’s energy issues. At one point on the radio, he told his engineer Marcus Dudley that he’d “shut the f— up” instead of trying to figure out what was wrong. At that point, his chance of fighting for top spots was gone.
On top of these problems, Russell faced other bad luck too: he retired from the lead in Canada due to a power failure and had another one while running third in Malaysia.
In his Instagram post, Russell said, “Now feels like a good time to speak from the heart. The season started just how I hoped, but quickly fell apart with bad luck and poor results. This has been the first real season where I’ve had more bad days than good. Has it been hard? Yes, a lot. Was it tough to get back up every week? Yes, very. Sometimes I felt confused. But I know I gave it everything, and 2026 just wasn’t my year.”
He also congratulated Kimi Antonelli warmly, saying, “Kimi, you had an incredible season and truly deserve the Championship.”
What stood out in Russell’s message was his gratitude toward Mercedes despite all the issues. He thanked the team for building the best car and power unit this year and praised everyone for their hard work after four challenging years.
Russell promised, “I will keep giving my best for the rest of this season and next. I aim to find the form I’ve shown most of my career and hopefully get some luck too. Thanks for all your support.”
Even with Russell’s engine troubles, Antonelli was often faster in qualifying and the race. Russell won three races while Antonelli took eight, and since the Austrian Grand Prix, Russell has only been on pole once. His only podium in the last six races was his win in Azerbaijan, where he also got pole and fastest lap. He was doing well for third in Malaysia before the power issue, and who knows what might have happened without the problems in Mexico?
Russell still has a chance to finish second in the Drivers’ Championship. He’s currently fourth but only 11 points behind Max Verstappen, who won in Mexico, with four races left. Up next is the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, a track where Russell has great memories — he won his first F1 race there in 2022.