George Russell explains Mexico GP media absence after €5,000 Mercedes fine

George Russell has explained why he left the Mexico City Grand Prix without completing his post-race media duties, an absence that resulted in a €5,000 fine for Mercedes.

FIA stewards investigated his failure to fulfil the mandatory responsibilities. The governing body confirmed that Russell had not been granted dispensation to miss them.

Motorsport.com reports that Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff gave Russell permission to leave, and that Russell congratulated teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli before departing.

“It was as simple as that, really. I was just very upset with missing out on the chance of a good result because the championship for me was already over but I just couldn't believe how things had panned out again,” Mercedes driver Russell said.

“As much as I love talking to [the media] after the race, I didn’t really fancy it on this occasion. So I was like, 'I’m going to just get out of here and go for a nice dinner and think about something other than the rubbish season we’ve had.'” Russell said.

“I think I'm 99% of the time a true professional and I try not to spit my dummy out, but sometimes missing out on doing the press – OK, it's not ideal but not the end of the world. Moments like that you don't really want to deal with it,” Russell said.

Russell finished sixth in Mexico, while Antonelli took third and secured the Drivers’ World Championship.

Russell had qualified second behind Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. Crash.net reports that an energy deployment issue cost Russell ground at the start, and he received a 10-second penalty for a collision with Isack Hadjar.

“I went through after the race with my engineer, the season, race by race, and we realised we had six races this season with no issues, and 14 races where we've had an issue of some sort,” Russell said.