‘Distraught’ Russell’s telling act after prodigy teammate’s historic feat
As Formula 1 continues to celebrate young phenom Kimi Antonelli’s historic championship victory in Mexico, the atmosphere on the other side of the Mercedes garage is noticeably heavier.
George Russell was left reeling as his 20-year-old teammate took the sport’s top honours, with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff revealing that Russell was “distraught” after Antonelli’s success.
Russell skipped media after Antonelli’s success. Peter Powell
Mercedes even allowed Russell to immediately leave the circuit and miss media duties in Mexico, the team now copping a fine for Russell’s absence of up to $8,000.
“I saw George after the race on the FIA scales and obviously, he’s distraught about the situation,” Wolff explained.
"It was a great show of sportsmanship to go and see Kimi. I have known George for such a long time. He is going through a hard time, but he was also responsible in getting the young man into this team.
"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. The energy delivery was not what we thought it should be.
"I'm very much with him at the moment. I've been in situations where it’s very, very difficult to cope.
“So him not doing the media work or leaving the track is absolutely understandable.
“Him staying would have actually surprised me.”
Russell finished sixth in the grand prix on Monday morning AEDT after being slapped with a 10-second time penalty for an opening lap collision with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar.
Russell struggled with his car’s energy deployment at the start and now falls to fourth in the drivers’ standings after being leapfrogged by Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
Nearly 24 hours after the race finish, Russell broke his silence on social media to rue the season that “unravelled” for him, after he was poised in Australia to be the next Mercedes champion.
Russell congratulated his teammate after his historic title victory. Clive Mason
“Now feels like a pretty suitable moment to speak from the heart. This season started off exactly how I had hoped but it very quickly unravelled with tough luck and poor performances,” Russell wrote on X.
“It’s been the first proper season of my career where I’ve had more bad days than good.
“All I know is that I’ve given it my all and 2026 was not meant to be my year. I want to sincerely congratulate Kimi on what has been an absolutely incredible season.
“You truly deserve the championship.
“Thank you to the team for producing the best car and power unit this season; it’s been inspiring to see everyone coming together over four tough years to bring Mercedes back to the top.
“Now, all I can promise is that for the rest of this season, and into the next one, I will be giving my absolute all to rediscover the performance I have been capable of producing for the majority of my career and fingers crossed a little bit of luck returns.”
Antonelli had nine wins to Russell’s three in the 2026 season, the Italian storming to an unprecedented title campaign in just his second season in the sport.
The 20-year-old broke multiple long-standing F1 records, including becoming the first driver born in the 21st century to win the F1 drivers’ title - 2025 winner Lando Norris was born in 1999.
He also has the most wins for a teenager at six, became the sport’s youngest pole sitter in China this year and was the youngest driver ever to lead an F1 championship.
This all comes as he broke the record for the youngest winner crowned of the drivers’ championship at 20 years and 68 days. Antonelli shattered the previous mark by three years, set by Sebastian Vettel of 23 years and 133 days.
Formula 1 still has four races left, with Brazil this weekend before Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
