George Russell team radio rant triggers honest Mercedes response

Mercedes accepts that it waited too long to make a decision on team orders at the Mexican Grand Prix, a subject which left George Russell frustrated over team radio.

Russell smelt a podium opportunity as he came up to the back of Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli, all while McLaren’s Oscar Piastri applied pressure behind. Russell vocally pushed for Mercedes to execute a switcheroo, which eventually happened, though team representative Bradley Lord admitted that Mercedes took too long to reach that decision.

George Russell team radio frustration: Mercedes regret ‘delay’

As Russell was urged to keep his tyre temperatures under control, the bleep machine was required as the Brit, bluntly, explained that he was trying to defend from Piastri, and pushed for Antonelli to be moved aside.

Several laps later, Mercedes made that call, though Piastri ultimately overtook on Lap 60. Mercedes reversed the swap, and Russell finished seventh behind Antonelli.

While Mercedes believe that the pace was lacking to press on and pass Oliver Bearman – who looked set for a first podium before Max Verstappen pulled off a one-stop masterclass – Lord nonetheless admits that Mercedes suffered for the delay in their decision.

“It was a really tricky situation,” he said during Mercedes’ Mexican GP debrief.

“We had Kimi driving in a way to manage his tyres, managing to a one-stop, and doing exactly what was being asked of him.

“George, obviously, under pressure from Piastri, closing up on Kimi, and very much feeling that squeeze between Kimi in front, who was managing everything quite carefully, waiting for either Bearman’s tyres to drop off in front, to be able to take advantage of that, or for an undercut, if we were to convert to a two-stop, because it was right on the limit, George obviously coming up from behind, closing that gap, and then in the dirty air, using more of his tyres because of that, and also feeling that he had pace to get past.

“So, it did take a while to figure that out, because we, initially, are a team we would let our drivers race, and that’s what our racing intent calls for.

“We did eventually decide to swap, and I think in hindsight, regardless of whether we decided to hold position or swap, it was the delay that was the thing that didn’t work out for us.

“By the time George was past, his tyres were past their best, and he couldn’t get past Bearman. Equally, later in the race, on fresh tyres, once he’d made the second stop, he had another chance to attack, and was unable to make the move stick then either. So I think on the day, we weren’t quite quick enough to make that happen.

“It was very difficult to overtake in Mexico with the low downforce, very difficult with the dirty air phenomenon. That seems more penalising now than any part of these rules since 2022, and so it was a tricky situation.

“Probably didn’t get everything right in how we managed it, and the lesson is really that we should have been more decisive, either in asking to hold position or swapping the positions, rather than waiting the time we did.”

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Asked to clarify whether Russell’s tyres burning up explained his inability to overtake Bearman, Lord replied: “In the second stint, yes. In the third stint, I think it simply shows that in Mexico, it is a circuit where the tyres do overheat in traffic, and so it is very, very difficult to pass.

“We saw really the only driver making progress in the top five or six was Piastri, and the McLaren had a pace advantage of between three and four-tenths of a second per lap over the other front running cars in Mexico. The rest of us were within a gap of literally hundredths of a second. Probably a tenth spread between the fastest Ferrari and the slowest car in that pack.

“So when the differentials are that small, you’re either relying on mistakes or pit-stops or teams simply pushing the tyre life a bit too far and then hitting what’s called the cliff and suffering a dramatic loss in performance.

“But I mean, Bearman and Haas managed everything incredibly well, and put in a fantastic drive to P4.”

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