Toto Wolff reveals ‘serious trouble’ for Mercedes in George Russell crash update

Michelle Foster
George Russell wrecked Mercedes W15

George Russell's wrecked Mercedes W15 after his Turn 8 crash in Mexico

The good news is George Russell is okay after his 35G crash in FP2 in Mexico but the worrying news is Mercedes are in “serious trouble” with the cost cap as a result.

Russell suffered his second big crash in seven days when he lost control of his W15 in Friday’s second practice for the Mexican Grand Prix.

George Russell was seen holding his ribs after his FP2 crash

Having set the pace in FP1, Russell was out on track for just four laps in the later session when he lost control at Turn 8 and wrecked heavily.

Slamming into the TecPro barriers sideways, Russell suffered a hard hit and was seen holding his ribs as he gingerly climbed out of the cockpit.

He was taken to the track’s medical centre as the impact was recorded at more than 30G and later told F1 TV: “I’m okay. I feel a bit winded after that one.

“Honestly, I don’t really know what happened. The car just started bouncing along the ground, and before I even had a chance to catch it, it was already spinning.

“It just seems like it is one thing after another at the moment.

“It’s frustrating as in FP1 we were really strong and really fast. I tried taking the same line and cutting that corner but, for whatever reason on this occasion, the thing just started going on me.

Toto Wolff confirmed to Sky Deutschland that his driver was okay and while his car wasn’t, Mercedes had the parts on hand needed to repair it ahead of Saturday’s action.

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“35G, so that was a really big impact,” Wolff said. “He was taken to the medical centre, but he’s okay.

“But of course, the car is badly damaged. We do have the parts.”

He added: “I think we can keep the old chassis, but everything else has to go.

“The engine has to come out, the gearbox has to be checked and everything else. Two corners of the car are completely gone. So it’s serious damage.”

The crash was Russell’s second in seven days as he also crashed during qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. That coupled with Kimi Antonelli’s big Monza FP1 crash have left Mercedes facing a huge budget cap headache.

“We’re in serious trouble,” Wolff said.

“We are all struggling to stay within the budget cap and of course we had a bad accident with Kimi at Monza. Then the second one with George last week and now again.”

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