Mercedes delighted with the pace of the W15 despite scary crash for Russell
Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton sounded an optimistic voice after the first two practice sessions at the Mexico City Grand Prix despite the high-speed crash for the younger Briton that forced him to visit the medical centre.
Mercedes had an impressive start to their day, with George Russell topping the timesheets in the opening practice session at Mexico City. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton sat out FP1 as his 2025 replacement Andrea Kimi Antonelli got behind the wheel of his W15 as part of a rule that requires each team to run a rookie driver in at least two FP1 during the season.
However, the second practice saw Russell lose control of his car over the kerbs, crashing into the barriers. He managed to do a serious amount of damage to his car, but fortunately was released swiftly from the Medical Centre.
Reflecting on his day at the Mexico City Grand Prix, Russell was at a loss for words, claiming that he could not explain the reason for his high-speed crash.
"It was a big hit, and I felt a bit winded initially. I’m OK but unfortunately the car wasn’t. I am not sure what happened. I turned into the corner, trying to cut the line similarly to how I did in FP1. I’m not sure whether it was the kerb or the car bottoming out but it bounced a little and, before I had a chance to catch it, I was already in the wall.
"There is a lot of work on for the team in the garage overnight now, unfortunately. It does feel like it is one thing after another at the moment. It is frustrating as we were strong in FP1 and topped the times. We lost out on a lot of laps in FP2 so FP3 will be important for us to get the car in a good place ahead of Qualifying and Sunday’s race."
His team-mate Lewis Hamilton sat out the opening practice as his 2025 replacement Andrea Kimi Antonelli took over his car in FP1. The seven-time world champion returned to action in the extended second practice, ending the 90-minute session in P7, over half a second adrift of the pace-setting Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.
Assessing his day in Mexico, Hamilton praised Antonelli for not putting a foot wrong after his troublesome debut run back in Monza while he also claimed that the special run plan dictated by tyre supplier Pirelli made things quite difficult as drivers were unable to make any tweaks to the car.
"It was great to see Kimi do a really solid job for the team in FP1. It’s been enjoyable working with and supporting him ahead of the session and the programme he carried out set us up well for the afternoon.
"It’s not always easy to get straight up to speed having missed that opening practice but I got a good feeling from the car in FP2.
"With the tyre test, we couldn’t change anything on the car during the session. The red flag following George’s crash almost meant we lost a decent chunk of running time.
"Nevertheless, I feel like we got a lot of good information to work through and utilise this evening as we look to make improvements for the rest of the weekend," noted the Briton.
