Mercedes trio reflect on F1 Mexico GP and the team order situation which will need some review, as the Lap 1 situation is also discussed at length.
From the start itself, Mercedes’ George Russell was not a happy customer in F1 Mexico GP. After Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc cut the corner, the Brit pressed on to get them penalised. He thought he was third and had he been there, he probably would have finished in the Top 3.
There was back and forth as Mercedes communications manager Bradley Lord confirmed, but everyone was let off eventually. In fact, Russell only got his lap time delete strike off after he was forced off by Verstappen. The Dutchman escaped penalty on two accounts which further irked the Brit.
That move allowed teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli to sneak past but the biggest gainer was Haas’ Oliver Bearman, who moved up to fourth as a result and Russell was down to seventh. After the first set of stops, Bearman had Antonelli and Russell on his tail, being also chased by Oscar Piastri.
It was then Russell urged for team orders and they went back and forth for longer before Mercedes agreed to do so. By then it was too late as Russell’s tyre advantage was gone and it left them both vulnerable to Piastri. The second set of pit stops eventually sealed their fate.
Bearman still managed to retain fourth and Russell and Antonelli came under extreme pressure from Piastri. The Australian eventually managed to pass both of them, as Mercedes swapped back to finish sixth and seventh, with the Italian classified ahead of the Brit.
Post-race, Russell was not happy how Lap 1 panned out and how the team handled the situation. Antonelli initially did not understand the call, but eventually gave up. He appreciated getting back, but felt he had enough in hand to have a crack at Bearman, since he was saving battery and tyre.
Mercedes trio agreed that they will need to review how they could have handled it better and if swapping earlier would have helped in clearing Bearman. They tried to stop a faster Piastri behind, but conceded the position as there was no way they could have held him back for long.
Race, start –
Russell: “I think I just struggle to understand how three guys can just cut corners and maintain their position. They got it wrong, they brake too late, they made a mistake. But then they can just cut the corner and continue, and there was no punishment for their mistake. So I was pretty pissed off with that to start with. And then Max went off the track, turn four, came back on. It was wrong place, wrong time for me. But again, that should have been penalised as well. So, yeah. He [Piastri] was just quicker than us, we didn’t have pace. I think if I came in the first corner P3, we would have been P3.
“That’s the story of the season. And Leclerc, I am just watching now, just made no attempt to stay on track. Verstappen, obviously, got it wrong but continued in his place. The guy who did the right thing, came out worst. I think it holds me down to the circuit. If there is this get-out-of-jail-free card… If there were gravel, no one would be there. We’ve seen it almost every year we’ve been here. I think it was Carlos last year, Charles the year before, Lewis 10 years ago. It’s like a lawnmower racing.”
Antonelli: “It was not easy, tyre deg was very big. Initially we thought that the one-stop could work but driving in dirty air obviously made the tyre life a lot tougher. It was difficult to stay on top of the management. To be fair on the medium when I was behind Ollie, it was at one second region, I felt pretty comfortable, I was on top of the management, was trying to save the tyres for a better shot later but then the swap happened and kind of lost little bit the shot to overtake Ollie. I mean, it is what it is, P6 is obviously a bit frustrating but could focus onto the next one.”
Lord: “There was some back and forth, just sort of offering our perspective. I think George is probably entitled to feel a little aggrieved that he was one of the few guys to kind of stay on track and he lost out on position and then inadvertently or not because originally he was given a strike for it and that was removed because it wasn’t his fault. He sort of was forced off track at turn five and lost further position to Bearman there as well.
“So he sort of stayed within the white lines throughout apart from when the car meant, he couldn’t stay within them and found himself further behind in the field than he would have been otherwise. So, yeah, that feels feels a little bit strange I’m sure from his perspective a little unjust as well.”
Team order situation –
Russell: “Ordinarily, we work as a team, and we’re in a fight for P2 in the championship, and I could see Kimi was struggling to get past Bearman. I was in his DRS train, so when my tyres were in a good place, I was ready to attack, and ultimately, we left it too long, and by that point, there was no need to swap positions. Either do it straight away or not at all. Marcus, ultimately, is conveying a message. He’s not the one in that position making the decisions. So we need to sit down and talk as a team. Ultimately, I’m not battling Kimi in a championship or a fight, we’re battling Ferrari and Red Bull for the [runner-up spot in the] championship, and we finished P6 and P7, and it could have worked out differently.”
Antonelli: “I didn’t know it was asking that on the radio, the information from the team to make the swap in T4, which kind of caught me by surprise initially but I mean, I respect the decision. Obviously, we need to review and I will have to understand the reason behind the decision in order to move forward. Obviously, I had to drop back. I was very close to George when I was behind him but then I had to start pushing more and Piastri had a bit more pace, so I had to start defending from him which was not ideal. Then it kind of put us in a move unfavourable position.
“That’s why I was bit more worried because it was making the swap quite difficult because Piastri was very close to George, so I was a bit more nervous. It is what it is and we will focus on future. For sure, I really appreciate that from the team because at least I got the position back, of course we need to review because I think if we would have hold position – obviously it is very easy to talk now – probably we would have had a chance to get Ollie and probably would have had a better shot to finish maybe P4 and P5. Obviously, as I said before, it is easy to talk now, we just need to review and not make the same mistake.”
Lord: “Yes. It’s always marginal. It’s always… a delicate situation to handle and obviously when you’ve got, you’re chasing a car in front but struggling to make progress, actually looking after the tyres, car behind is obviously sliding around overheating tyres, pressure coming from behind as well, from a faster car ultimately on the day, it makes it delicate. So we’ll have to review it, see was it the right thing, should we have done it a little bit sooner, all of that will come out in the wash of the analysis overnight and then tomorrow. No, I don’t think so. The ultimate call is Toto’s, yes. But you’re not always in that…in triggering that scenario in terms of how it works, so he very much believes in letting the pitwall fly the plane, as it were, and providing the input, taking rather than quarterbacking, I guess.”
Early call would have helped –
Lord: “I think it’s impossible to say. Later on, George had clean air closed up on them and on the same life tyre and was unable to get past. So I think ultimately, neither driver quite had the pace to be able to do that today. It was not easy to overtake full stop. We saw lots of cars getting stuck in that dirty air and in DRS trains as well. So I’m not sure it would have changed a huge amount of the outcome. But again, we haven’t yet had the time to really do that analysis and see. I think, ultimately, we lost position to Piastri with a slow stop, not on track, and then that broke the DRS train and went from there.
“So had we gone very conservative and sort of run around in formation from whatever it was, lap, sort of 30 onwards, then maybe that might have worked, or we’d have just been vulnerable to someone pulling the trigger on a two-stop anyway. So I think ultimately we were defending from a faster car, and the faster car prevailed, which tends to happen more or less in a race like that.”
Tyre strategy –
Lord: “We thought about it, but we felt the start line advantage of the soft, the risk of losing position, knowing how important track position would be, weighed in favour of the soft. And Kimi felt quite strongly about wanting to start on the soft as well. The logical thing would have been to start the second car, I guess, on the medium to go long. And he was pretty certain that he wanted to be on that soft for the start line advantage and the first lap advantage.”
Here’s race start: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-mexico-city-grand-prix-norris-keeps-the-lead-after-four-car-turn-1-battle-on-lap-1.1847076761872075909
Here’s Oscar Piastri clearing Mercedes drivers: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-mexico-city-grand-prix-piastri-battles-past-russell-at-turn-1-for-p5.1847096762421150629
Here’s team orders saga at Mercedes: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-mexico-city-grand-prix-mercedes-swap-their-drivers-after-radio-pressure-from-russell.1847085542643212056
Here’s how F1 Mexico GP panned out
