Wolff defends Russell skipping media duties after 'catastrophic' Mexican GP collapse

George Russell slipped from second to fourth in the drivers’ championship after finishing sixth at the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday, a result Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff described as a “catastrophic moment” for the Briton — and one that prompted Russell to leave the circuit without completing his post-race media duties, earning the team a €5,000 fine.

Russell had qualified an agonising 0.009 seconds behind Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton to start second on the grid, but his race unravelled almost immediately. A first-lap collision with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar earned him a 10-second penalty, and Mercedes compounded his misery with an energy delivery problem off the line. Max Verstappen won the race, with Hamilton and Russell’s team-mate Kimi Antonelli completing the podium — Antonelli’s third place enough to seal the 2026 world championship.

Russell did stop to congratulate Antonelli at the FIA scales before departing, a gesture Wolff acknowledged as a show of sportsmanship given the circumstances. “I have known George for such a long time, and I know for a sportsperson, this is… He’s going through a hard time, but he was also responsible for getting the young man into this team,” Wolff told reporters.

The Mercedes chief was unequivocal in his support for Russell’s decision to avoid the media pen. “Him not doing the media work or leaving the track is absolutely understandable. Him staying would have actually surprised me. That’s absolutely honourable,” Wolff said.

Wolff also accepted that the team bore responsibility for a result that could have been very different. “We had the pace in the car and we let him down on the first straight. The energy delivery is not what we thought it should be,” he admitted.

Despite the setback, Russell remains in contention for the championship runner-up spot. With 16 points separating second through fifth in the standings, the final races of the season still offer him a route back up the order — though Sunday’s events illustrated how fine the margins have been throughout a campaign Wolff suggested was encapsulated by one difficult afternoon in Mexico City.