From Motorsport · Rahaan Mazumder · · 1m
Mercedes boss praises Antonelli’s masterclass while admitting they failed George Russell
Mercedes boss celebrates Antonelli’s title win but admits team failed George Russell’s race.
In brief
Mercedes boss celebrates Antonelli’s title win but admits team failed George Russell’s race. Mercedes engineering director Andrew Shovlin praised Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s championship win but acknowledged a battery failure cost George Russell the race. Originally reported by Motorsport.
Mercedes celebrates Antonelli’s title win
Andrew Shovlin praised Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s first world championship after Mexico City Grand Prix.
“Congratulations to Kimi on his first world championship”
Antonelli’s strategic tyre mastery
Antonelli executed a massive opening stint, nursing soft tyres past 40 laps to create strategic offset.
“He did a really good job managing the Soft tyre in the first stint and was able to run it beyond 40 laps”
Antonelli secures podium after restart
Antonelli dropped from fourth to snatch podium finish behind Verstappen and Hamilton after restart.
“He restarted P4 but made a very good move on Leclerc to get back into the podium positions”
George Russell’s battery failure
Russell suffered battery deployment failure before first braking zone, losing positions and causing penalty.
“George had a difficult afternoon through no fault of his own”
Russell’s race impact
Russell’s contact with Hadjar led to 10-second penalty and sixth-place finish despite challenges.
“The deployment issue on the run to Turn 1 cost him several positions”
Mercedes team response
Shovlin admitted team responsibility for Russell’s race failure and focused on Constructors’ Championship.
“It’s frustrating because we didn’t give him the start to the race that he needed”
The key point
Mercedes engineering director Andrew Shovlin praised Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s championship win but acknowledged a battery failure cost George Russell the race.
