Russell criticises 'no downside' Turn 1 risks after costly Mexico City race

Written by Kavi Khandelwal

George Russell cut a frustrated figure following a "busy race" at the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix, explaining how his P7 finish was the result of a race that unravelled from the very first corner.

Credit: Formula One

Speaking post-race, Russell was immediately critical of the standards at the start, suggesting that drivers who cut the corner gained an unfair advantage with no repercussions.

Russell said: "I'm sure we do understand how three drivers can just kick the first corner and continue it. It punishes the drivers who have driven correctly and 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 turn 1, so I was frustrated then".

Russell's troubles were compounded just moments later when he was caught up in an incident involving Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.

He explained: "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, yeah, very bad day".

Later in the race, Russell was involved in a strategy call with his teammate, Kimi Antonelli. He was asked to "play the team game" and swap positions to allow him to attack Oliver Bearman ahead, who was running without DRS at Lap 42.

Oscar Piastri was also within DRS of Russell when the team orders were issued. A miscalculation on the drivers' part while swapping could have resulted in an advantage for Piastri.

Russell felt he had the pace, but that the decision from the team came too late.

"I was in the DRS train behind Kimi and when he was behind Ollie, I could see he was struggling, he was sliding," Russell said. "I felt good and I thought I could have attacked Ollie who had no DRS. But I think we left it too long, you know what I mean?".

He elaborated that the delay in executing the team order ultimately compromised his own car, rendering the potential attack ineffective.

"We spent six or seven laps before we decided to invert the positions," he noted. "By that point, my car, my brakes, my tyres were overheating, so we probably should have just left that by that point".

Towards the end of the race, at Lap 63, the team issued the orders to swap back into the original positions with Antonelli at the front.