George Russell explains Mexican GP decision after Mercedes fined

George Russell said that he reached an ‘I need to just get out of here’ moment at the Mexican Grand Prix, having left the circuit without carrying out his mandatory media requirements.

That cost his Mercedes team €5,000 after the FIA stewards issued a fine.

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Russell’s mathematical title chances came to an end in Mexico City, as teammate Kimi Antonelli was crowned the new and youngest Formula 1 world champion of all-time.

Russell went into Formula 1’s new era as the title favourite for many. His victory at the season-opener in Melbourne only strengthened that tag.

However, the tide would eventually shift overwhelmingly in the favour of Antonelli, who secured the title in Mexico with four rounds to spare.

Russell suffered no shortage of misfortune along the way to that disappointing final result.

His qualifying setback in China, DNFs in Canada and Malaysia, and repeated deployment complaints with the Mercedes power unit served as painful examples.

Nonetheless, Antonelli also encountered reliability roadblocks of his own, as a likely win at Silverstone evaporated, while a P2 in Barcelona was also lost.

As the Mexico City celebrations began for Antonelli, Russell made his exit from the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, without speaking to the media first.

Following an investigation from the FIA stewards, Mercedes was fined €5,000 after it was found the Brit had not fulfilled his mandatory media responsibilities.

It is a requirement that, post-race, all drivers attend the media pen (unless they finish in the top three, in which case they attend the FIA press conference) and speak with both broadcasters and the written press.

Mercedes signalled to the media that Russell would not attend the media pen; with PlanetF1.com learning his early exit was approved by the team.

However, upon enquiry by PlanetF1.com, the FIA confirmed no dispensation had been granted to Russell for this failure to attend.

F1 2026 quickly moved from Mexico City to Sao Paulo, where the Brazilian Grand Prix will bring the curtain down on this second triple-header.

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Russell explained the headspace that he was in after last weekend’s race, and his mentality arriving at Interlagos.

“I was extremely disappointed Sunday night, more from the fact of missing out on a great result from something again outside of my control, and that was just a really tough pill to swallow,” he said.

“This season it’s been ‘tough moment, pick yourself back up, tough moment, pick yourself back up’. And I think, as an individual, I’ve continued to have that resilience of being able to always pick myself back up.

“It kind of just got to the point in Mexico where I was like, ‘I need to just get out of here’, because it’s just been relentless what’s happened this year.

“It’s been tough. I’m here, four days later, ready to go again. And I think for any individual, or sportsperson, or businessperson, you never have every year of your life that goes the way you want.

“We all have problems we deal with. We have good days, bad days, good years, bad years. I think it’s important to not let that define you. You’ve just got to come back stronger, and that’s what we’re here to do.”

Russell has slipped to fourth in the Drivers’ Championship standings. Max Verstappen, who now occupies P2, goes into the Brazilian GP 11 points ahead of the Brit.

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