Mercedes fined €5,000 after Russell skips Mexico media duties
The FIA stewards fined Mercedes €5,000 after George Russell left the Mexico City circuit without doing his post-race media duties. Russell had finished sixth on the road, on the day Mercedes celebrated Kimi Antonelli's title.
A fine on title day
Mercedes had a world champion to celebrate in Mexico City, but one driver was missing from the post-race media. George Russell left the circuit without attending his mandatory duties, and the stewards later fined the team €5,000, PlanetF1 reports. The FIA confirmed that Russell had no dispensation.
What the stewards said
The stewards summoned the driver, but he had already left, so they decided the case without him. A team representative told them that "the driver had left the circuit without attending the post race media commitments". Under the rules a driver who finishes outside the top three must go to the media pen. Russell was classified sixth.
PlanetF1 understands that the team had approved his early exit. The Race reports that Mercedes explained Russell was "distraught" after the race, which it gave as the reason for his absence.
A difficult race
Russell's race had been troubled. He received a 10-second penalty for sending Red Bull's Isack Hadjar into a spin on the opening lap, as reported by The Race. In qualifying he had been 0.009 s short of Lewis Hamilton's pole time.
The numbers
Russell is fourth in the drivers' standings on 250 points, behind team-mate Antonelli on 380, Verstappen on 261 and Hamilton on 259, according to RacingNews365. He has won 3 of the 19 races so far and stood on the podium 10 times in our data. The next race is the São Paulo Grand Prix on 8 November.
