George Russell walked out of FIA press conference: 'I thought, you need to chill'

George Russell walked out of a press conference before it had finished, after a qualifying session in Brazil left him fuming over a lost pole position.

The Mercedes driver finished second on the grid for the São Paulo Grand Prix, after his race engineer, Marcus Dudley, had told him to abort a lap after coming across the Williams of Alex Albon in the middle sector. Russell felt the lap was good enough for pole.

Moments later, the rain intensified, costing Russell what would have been his best shot at top spot.

The 28-year-old made his frustration clear over the radio, refusing to accept muted congratulations for his final position.

After berating Dudley, and then being told by team principal Toto Wolff he was P2, a furious Russell replied: "P2? I'm not here for second place; I'm here for first place," Russell said. "It was a lap good enough for P1."

That anger carried straight into the FIA press conference, according to host Tom Clarkson, who discussed the incident on the F1 Nation podcast.

"He actually walked out of the press conference while it was still going on," said Clarkson. "He was just done with it.

"I'd asked him a question about that lap that he didn't complete because he was told not to by his race engineer Marcus Dudley, and when he sort of had enough of answering questions, he just got up and walked out."

Clarkson did not hold back in his assessment of the Briton's state of mind at the time.

"I just came away thinking, George, you need to chill because this is going to start eating away at you," he said.

"And then in the race, we all saw what happened," referring to Russell's spin in the pit lane.

It was the second time in a week Russell had not fulfilled all of his media duties. In Mexico, after Kimi Antonelli had wrapped up his first F1 title, Russell avoided his post-race press obligations, citing "relentless" frustration at another result that went begging due to circumstances out of his control.