Russell happy for 2024 sacrifices after “unnecessary” crashes

George Russell says he would support Mercedes compromising the rest of this Formula 1 season to gain an advantage into 2025 as the team handles the fallout of several crashes.

Mercedes’ repair costs have been mounting up of late after Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Monza practice crash, the Austin shunt sustained by Russell in qualifying, and his latest prang in Mexico’s FP2 session.

This led Toto Wolff to tell Sky Germany of his fear that Mercedes would struggle against the budget cap with further crashes.

Given the situation, Russell said he would be happy to stick with his current car specification – now running Miami-spec parts after his crash – to save cash for next season.

“There’s no concerns with budget cap because we’ve always got a bit of margin and you’re always weighing up what you put into this season versus what you put into next season,” Russell said after securing fifth on the grid for the Mexican GP.

“We may have to compromise over the rest of this season, which to be honest I’d probably be in favour of because we’re not fighting for a championship.

“I’d be more than happy staying on the old floor if that gives us a better chance into next year.

George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

“But I think we’ll be able to repair the floor from Austin. I think that’s the plan. It wasn’t as bad as we initially expected and that should be out in Brazil.”

Russell was surprised that he was able to qualify fifth with older components and that the team was taken aback by its pace from FP1 before the Briton’s incident during the second Friday session.

Recounting the FP2 incident, he explained: “The last two years, I’ve been using that kerb every lap. In FP1, I did four laps using the kerb, and there was no problem and then suddenly I hit it and it was like I was a kangaroo.

“That was really disappointing. For the last two weeks, I’ve put so much pressure on the team now with the lack of spares and it’s been pretty unnecessary.

“But we don’t really know why it’s happening. It’s not through sort of overdriving. It’s just the car bites.”