'A very bad day' – Russell laments Mercedes' Mexico City GP result as he criticises Turn 1 incidents

George Russell was left frustrated with Mercedes' performance in the Mexico City Grand Prix and also criticised drivers who cut the opening corners of the race without being punished.

The Briton endured a tough 71-lap race on Sunday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit, eventually finishing down in seventh and behind team mate Kimi Antonelli.

Russell was animated on the radio at several points, including after the start when Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc both cut the opening sequence of corners on the first lap that went unpunished by the stewards.

“I struggle to understand how three drivers can just cut the first corner and continue," said Russell.

"It punishes the drivers who have driven correctly, and if you can risk everything with no downside, that is what drivers are going to do. It has always been the case here in Mexico – people cutting Turn 1. So I was frustrated.

“Then I got unlucky with Max and Lewis when they came together. Max went off the track, came back on, I was on the outside and lost two positions. So in the end, just a very bad day.”

Russell lost further ground after trying to pass Verstappen, dropping behind Antonelli, but asked over the radio to be let past his team mate so that he could mount a challenge on Ollie Bearman ahead.

With Russell unable to pass Bearman, and after falling behind Oscar Piastri in the closing stages, he allowed Antonelli back ahead.

“I was in the DRS train behind Kimi when he was behind Ollie, and I could see he was struggling," added Russell.

"He was sliding, and I felt good. I thought I could have attacked Ollie, who had no DRS, but I think we left it too long. We spent six or seven laps before we decided to invert the positions, and by that point, my car, my brakes, my tyres were overheating."

With sixth-place, Antonelli made it four points finishes in the last five Grands Prix as Mercedes fell to third in the Constructors' table, one point behind Ferrari and just nine ahead of Red Bull with four races remaining.

“Obviously, P6… a little bit disappointing. At the start, I did a mistake – I locked the rear into Turn 1 and went straight and lost the position to Ollie," said Antonelli.

"But then it was a very tough race. We were all in the train, and were all very close to each other. We tried something with the team to switch positions which, unfortunately, didn’t work. It is what it is. Now, we try to move forward.”