Max Verstappen did not keep the praise clean for long. Asked in the Mexico paddock whether Kimi Antonelli deserved his new title, the Red Bull driver quickly steered the answer towards the other side of the Mercedes garage.

“Compared to his team-mate, I think he has done an unbelievable job,” Verstappen told Sky Sports’ Craig Slater, after noting that Mercedes had the best package of the season.

Verstappen said it was striking how few mistakes Antonelli had made in only his second F1 season.

“I know for myself, when you’re in your second season, there are still so many unknowns. Sometimes that’s a good thing to be unknown because you drive free, but at the same time it’s also easy to make mistakes and he didn’t.”

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The team-mate in question, George Russell, was already having the worst Sunday of his season.

A front-row start that went to pieces

Russell started second on the grid, lost ground off the line to an energy-deployment problem, collided with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar at Turn 6 and picked up a 10-second penalty. He crossed the line sixth. By the end of the afternoon he had dropped from second to fourth in the drivers’ standings, Sky Sports reported.

Russell was excused from his mandatory post-race media duties. Team principal Toto Wolff said he found him on the FIA weighing scales looking shattered.

“I saw George after the race on the FIA scales and obviously he’s distraught about the situation,” Wolff told Sky Sports.

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“For a racing driver, this is a catastrophic moment and maybe today the race was a little bit a picture of his season,” he said to The Race.

The absence cost Mercedes a €5,000 fine from the FIA. Stewards noted in their decision that no dispensation had been granted and that Russell “left the circuit without attending the post race media commitments”.

The video Mercedes did not need to post

Mercedes then stoked the moment themselves. A clip the team shared showed Russell close to tears while Wolff embraced him and said, “Sorry for the sh*tshow, George.” Fans called the post “completely unnecessary”, with one asking why the team would upload a video of a driver crying.

Antonelli, who started from pole, finished third to become F1’s youngest ever world champion at the age of 20, with Verstappen taking the race win from fifth on the grid. Four rounds of the 2026 calendar remain.

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