Russell ‘winded’ and baffled after latest Mercedes crash woe

George Russell was unsurprisingly left feeling “a bit winded” after a second high-speed crash in the space of seven days that also left him scratching his head in the search for answers.

A week on from an accident in qualifying for the United States Grand Prix, Mercedes driver Russell suffered another shocking shunt in FP2 ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Through a fast sweep of corners in the middle sector, Russell rode the kerb at Turn 8, only for the car to bottom out, leading to a snap that resulted in him smacking into a Tecpro barrier side-on with a 30g impact.

Although Russell stepped out of the cockpit of his battered W15 holding his ribs, he was cleared after a medical inspection and will continue for the rest of the weekend.

As for his car, however, that requires a considerable amount of work from the team again after the effort put in last week to get it ready for the race in Austin.

Reflecting on this latest big hit, after topping the timesheet in FP1, Russell said: “I’m okay. I feel a bit winded after that one.

“Honestly, I don’t really know what happened. The car just started bouncing along the ground, and before I even had a chance to catch it, it was already spinning.

“I tried to take the same line in cutting that corner, and for whatever reason, on this occasion in FP2, the thing just started going on me.

“A lot of work for the guys again. It seems like it’s just one thing after another at the moment. It’s frustrating because in FP1 we were really strong, really fast.”

It leaves Russell with his work cut out in FP3 to get ready for qualifying.

“I obviously missed out on laps, so FP3 is going to be important,” added Russell. “I just hope we can get the car fixed.”