George Russell says he remains frustrated with Mercedes consistency after taking P2 in Mexico City Qualifying

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

George Russell will start on the front row for the Mexico City Grand Prix after a tense Qualifying battle that ended with him P2, just nine thousandths of a second behind polesitter Lewis Hamilton. Russell said that while he was “glad” to have delivered when it mattered, he still wants more consistent performance from his Mercedes week to week and session to session.

The British driver described his season as “topsy-turvy,” noting that his progress toward a maiden World Championship has been affected by alternating strong laps and weaker ones, along with reliability concerns. He said his problem is not that the pace disappears, but that he cannot reproduce it often enough: “We’re either doing very good laps or very bad laps. We’re not doing anything in between.”

Russell said that his breakthrough in the weekend arrived late, with the situation improving in “one lap in Q3.” He also pointed to how close the pole fight was, explaining that by finding roughly half a second over the course of the session’s final challenge, he came “almost” close enough to take first—yet still couldn’t consistently convert that potential into a more stable hit rate.

Asked about the emotion of the result, Russell said, “I didn’t feel in the fight all day, really, and I’m very glad to have pulled it off when it mattered.” He added that he remains confident the performance is “in there,” but that the current inconsistency is the “frustration” he is carrying into Sunday.

Russell also linked his late improvement to track conditions in Mexico City, where he said dropping temperatures played a role toward the end of Qualifying. He explained that cooler air and changing conditions—including cloud cover and the sun lowering—helped him gain confidence to put the tyre grip in the correct window, following a “very hard out-lap” that supported the run.

With Kimi Antonelli having the opportunity to secure his first World Championship title in Sunday’s race—conditional on finishing P9 or higher regardless of Russell’s individual outcome—Russell is still focused on the competitive fight ahead. Hamilton, meanwhile, sits just one point behind Russell in the standings entering the race, keeping the duel for position between them tight.

Russell expects a narrow contest among the leaders, saying it will be “very tight between the top eight drivers.” He singled out the importance of the start and the opening sequence into Turn 1, describing his goal as getting through early, passing the Ferrari as soon as possible, and then holding position after the initial battle.

For Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix, Russell’s message is clear: the front-row result is a positive and proof of the Mercedes’ underlying speed, but he wants a higher consistency “hit rate” in order to turn that pace into more decisive outcomes on a day-to-day basis.

He will begin the race P2, with Hamilton on pole and the field set for another high-stakes run in Mexico’s demanding, high-altitude, low-grip conditions—exactly the factors Russell believes shaped the late Qualifying swing that placed him at the front.