George Russell is keen to have a clean weekend at the Mexico Grand Prix following a run of "scrappy" races. The Mercedes driver was given a five-second time penalty last time out in the United States after the stewards deemed him to be at fault for a first-lap collision with Carlos Sainz, which led to Sainz's retirement from the event while Russell went on to claim P5. Earlier in October, Russell finished outside of the points at the Singapore Grand Prix – in which he made contact with the Haas of Mick Schumacher – before coming home in P8 one week later in a shortened race in Japan. As such, Russell is hoping to return to a "good grove" in Mexico.
Russell outlines focus for Mexican GP
While Russell is locked in a battle with Sainz for P4 in the World Championship, the Briton admits that getting his races back on track is his current priority. "I think you obviously want to finish every season as high as you want," Russell told media, including RacingNews365.com . "I think I'm probably more focused on just getting back into a good groove and rhythm. "I think at the start of this year we had such a consistent run of results, and every single time we hit the track we were putting in good performances, whether it was on a Saturday or Sunday, and everything seemed to be running quite smoothly. "But these last three races, for various reasons, have been very scrappy, most of which on my behalf. "So I need to… I'm probably just more focused on trying to have a clean last three weekends and the championship should hopefully sort itself out."
How de Vries' FP1 run affects Russell's preparation
Russell will have to wait before he can join in the action in Mexico, with 2023 AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries set to drive his W13 during Friday's Free Practice 1 session before handing the car back over to Russell for FP2. Despite this, the 24-year-old is not expecting his preparations to be greatly affected. "It makes it complicated in terms of setting the car up and getting in the groove," Russell explained of missing FP1. "But FP1 is always a bit of a tricky session here, because this track isn't used often and it's quite dirty, quite dusty. "And for me personally, getting the 90 minutes in FP2 gives you a good opportunity to sort of catch back up in terms of your driving, but I don't think it'll be too much of a loss."
Most read
