‘I Was Very Upset’: George Russell Confesses Why He Left Early as Kimi Antonelli Celebrated Title Win

George Russell has confessed that he was left extremely upset following the Mexican Grand Prix following issues with his Mercedes car on Lap 1. He explained that this was the reason why he left the track early after the race rather than staying on to witness Kimi Antonelli‘s title celebrations at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

“The championship was inevitably going to Kimi. I was just very disappointed with what happened for me at the start of the race,” Russell said in Sao Paulo, explaining why he left the track early in Mexico.

“I was just very upset with missing out on the chance of a good result because, as I said, the championship for me, it was already over. But I just couldn’t believe how things had panned out again. And in that moment, I just wanted to get out of there,” he admitted.

Russell shared that he was ‘excited’ for the race in Mexico, but was left extremely disappointed after yet another car issue meant he could not compete for the race win. The Briton had started the race on the front row and would likely have been in with a chance for a win following Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc‘s tangle on the first lap.

But the driver suffered a deployment issue at the start, which left him in P6. Things worsened for the Briton when he picked up a 10-second penalty after a collision with Isack Hadjar.

George Russell Shares He Wanted To Reset After Disappointing Mexican GP

Russell also said that he simply felt that leaving the track early in Mexico was the best way for him to pick himself back up again after another disappointing race. The Mercedes driver explained that hitting the reset button is an important aspect of motor racing.

“In racing, you always pick yourself back up, and for me, I felt the best way to put myself back up was getting out of there, and it’s as simple as that, really,” said Russell.

After all penalties were applied, Russell ended the Mexican GP in P6. The 29-year-old also lost his P2 spot in the drivers’ championship following this result as he slipped down to fourth after being overtaken by Max Verstappen and Hamilton.

George Russell Set to Take Engine Penalty at the Brazilian GP

Continuing his struggles, Russell will take a five-place grid penalty at this weekend’s Brazilian GP as Mercedes will fit a new internal combustion engine in the back of his W17. The driver explained that the race in Interlagos seemed like the best place to take this penalty from now until the end of the season.

“I mean we always had to take a grid penalty at some point. Obviously we took one in Singapore but from Singapore until the end of the season, we felt this was a good place to take it,” Russell said.

“Five places doesn’t seem that bad and we’ll try and come back through,” he added.

Russell also pointed to Hamilton’s drive from the back of the grid at the Brazilian GP in 2021 as inspirational. Hamilton was disqualified from sprint qualifying and started the sprint, which served as qualifying in 2021, from last. But he managed to climb up to P5 during the shortened race, and then went on to win the main race.

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