Russell 'a bit shaken' and confused after FP2 crash

The weekends follow one another and are the same for Mercedes and George Russell. In Mexico, the Briton suffered a dramatic off-track excursion during Free Practice 2 and hit the wall at high speed after losing control of his car in turns 8-9. Images that are not without recalling those of Austin, the previous week, where the two Mercedes drivers had also suffered a similar mishap in turn 19… George Russell had also experienced an off-track excursion in the same conditions during qualifying in the United States.

🚩RED FLAG🚩

George Russell goes off the track and crashes violently 🤯#MexicoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/0zmo7WJ0JQ

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) October 25, 2024

Visibly affected by his accident when he got out of his single-seater, George Russell emerged unscathed from this violent impact, while the Mercedes was badly damaged on the right side. "I'm fine, I felt a little shaken after that one., said the Englishman after Free Practice 2. Honestly, I don't know what happened. The car started bouncing on the ground and before I could even catch it, I was already spinning."

“The misadventures follow one another” for Russell and Mercedes

The weekend had started well for George Russell, who set the fastest time in Free Practice 1. The double Grand Prix winner felt confident aboard his W15, which had been upgraded since Austin, but as in Texas, the German single-seater still seemed to be very sensitive in high-speed corners, suffering from a "bottoming" phenomenon, with the floor bouncing on contact with the track.

“At the moment it feels like one mishap after another. It’s frustrating. In FP1 we were very strong, very fast. I tried to take the same line, to attack this corner and, for some reason, in FP2 I started to lose control of my car., notes George Russell, who cannot understand the random behavior of his mount.. We lost a lot of time in FP2, so FP3 will be important to put the car in a good position ahead of qualifying and the race on Sunday."

Mercedes will still have a lot of work to do before the Grand Prix: repair work, first of all, on George Russell's single-seater, but above all work to understand the developments of the W15 which, even if they seem to work in terms of pace, pose problems for the two British drivers in terms of high-speed behaviour.

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