George Russell seeking Mercedes investigation as title end-game nears

George Russell is intending to "dig deep" into the data with his Mercedes engineers to understand why he was so slow in the United States - as the title race all but ended.

With team-mate Kimi Antonelli scoring a crushing victory, Russell was required to finish at least eighth to extend the fight to Mexico City - which is where he finished following a poor weekend, having failed to overtake McLaren's Oscar Piastri for most of the race.

Russell dropped behind the Australian after a "ridiculous" five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage on the opening lap, and Antonelli victory and Russell's eighth place mean the Italian now has a 123-point advantage over the Briton.

If Russell does not win in Mexico, Antonelli will be champion be default, with the 20-year-old just requiring a ninth-place finish to be assured of the crown. 

Reflecting on the race that all but extinguished his faint hopes of the title, Russell felt that he "didn't have the answers right now" to explain his lack of pace - as Antonelli seemed to extract the best from the tricky W17 upgrades, something Russell could not.

"The pace wasn't good in the first stint, and when I came out of the pits on the hards, I probably did six laps on the same pace as Kimi," he told media, including RacingNews365. 

"But then I caught up to Oscar, and I just couldn't overtake, so six good laps, 50 bad laps.

"I want to understand why the pace was so bad in the first stint; the penalty was a bit ridiculous, but that was the least of my worries after such a bad weekend.

"I don't have the answers right now, and I need to give it 24 hours to think clearly.

"The window [with the car] is narrow, and we saw in Malaysia [Antonelli] was quickest in FP3 and then we qualified fourth and eighth and then this weekend, we were both up there in Q2, and then I was nowhere in Q3 and nowhere in the race.

"He was obviously exceptionally competitive, and there are signs the window is very small.

"I hope that's an explanation for my lack of pace, but I need to dig deep with my team because it is difficult to understand when you are so far off."

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Russell's end-game approaches

With the end game nearing in the championship, the fight for second has closed right up, with Russell in second now just nine points ahead of Charles Leclerc in fifth, with Hamilton and Max Verstappen between. 

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Russell declared his sole aim was to help Mercedes win a ninth constructors' crown. 

"For me, as long as we win the constructors', that's the main thing," Russell added.

"I'd like to finish as best of the rest, but P2, P3, P5 is not the champion, so it doesn't mean anything."