George Russell has conceded he is still frustrated with the lack of consistency in performance from his Mercedes, despite being happy to be starting P2 for the Mexico City Grand Prix.
The British driver has endured a topsy-turvy season, with his chances of a maiden World Championship title continuing to diminish amid team mate Kimi Antonelli’s form. While Russell has had individual highlights in 2026, his efforts have been hampered by inconsistent outings and reliability issues.
With the young Italian just two points away from sealing his own maiden title in Mexico City – a result of P9 or higher will get the job done regardless of what Russell does – the Briton still went into the weekend in search of a positive result to kick start some momentum.
That came to pass in Saturday’s Qualifying session as a brilliant effort in the final minutes of Q3 saw him top the leaderboard, before Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton bested him by just nine thousandths of a second.
Despite being bumped down into second place, Russell still saw the positives from the time he managed to deliver.
“I didn’t feel in the fight all day, really, and I’m very glad to have pulled it off when it mattered,” he said.
“But I still would like more consistency. You know, we’re either doing very good laps or very bad laps. We’re not doing anything in between.
“I always have this faith that the performance is in there but just struggling to unlock it more consistently.
“It’s been a tricky few races for me, and I’m still struggling to get on top of this car to be honest, because it’s been a very difficult weekend up until one lap in Q3.
“And, you know, finding half a second to almost get pole from Lewis, it was obviously really close in the end. So I always know it’s in there.
“I know the performance is in there, but I just can’t… the hit rate is too low at the moment. So that’s the frustration I have. But, of course, happy with this front row.”
With the track in Mexico proving to be a unique challenge for the drivers, given its high altitude and low grip, Russell explained how dropping temperatures at the end of Qualifying played into his hands.
“The temperatures were getting cooler, and I think that came into our favour,” he added. “You know, there’s a bit of cloud cover, the sun’s coming down.
“I did a very hard out-lap, and it just gave me a bit more confidence to get the grip in the tyre. And I think that’s just what helped me extract the lap time.”
As Antonelli goes in search of securing his first title in Sunday’s race, Russell also faces a fight to retain second place in the standings, with polesitter Hamilton just a point behind. However, Russell believes that he can fight for the win if he can get off the line and pass the Ferrari as soon as possible.
“I think it’s going to be very tight between the top eight drivers,” he said, assessing Sunday’s Grand Prix. “The start is going to be crucial, and Turn 1 is going to be crucial.
“So yeah, I want to try and get through there, make it up a position and hold on to it.”
