'Distraught' Russell excused media duties after Antonelli takes F1 title

MEXICO CITY, Nov 1 : Mercedes excused George Russell from post-race media duties on Sunday with team boss Toto Wolff saying his driver was distraught after a Mexico City Grand Prix that crowned 20-year-old teammate Kimi Antonelli as Formula One's youngest champion.

Russell, who was summoned to see the stewards by the governing FIA, finished sixth after making a good start from the front row but suffered "an unexpected lack of deployment" on the opening straight that cost him several places.

Wolff said the Briton, who also collected a 10-second penalty for a collision with Red Bull's Isack Hadjar, had already left the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. 

The FIA then fined the team €5,000 ($5,579).

"I saw George after the race and obviously he's distraught about the situation," said Wolff. "It was a great show of sportsmanship to go and see Kimi (afterwards)... I know as a sports person that he is going through such a hard time.

"So I saw him and for a racing driver this is a catastrophic moment. And maybe today the race was a little bit a picture of his season. This was a race for him to win. We had the pace in the car and we let him down on the first straight. 

"I'm very much with him at the moment. I've been in situations where it's very difficult to cope. So his not doing the media work or leaving the track is absolutely understandable."

Russell was Antonelli's closest rival before Sunday's race, albeit 123 points behind, but slipped to fourth in the drivers' standings with Red Bull's race winner Max Verstappen moving up to second overall and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton maintaining third place with the runner-up position on track.

Before the season started, Russell had been favourite for the title as the more experienced driver and a race winner whereas Antonelli had a tough debut in 2025 and had yet to win in Formula One.

The Italian has won nine of the 19 races so far this season.