Shovlin praises Antonelli’s title drive and says Mercedes let Russell down

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin praised Kimi Antonelli’s title-winning drive in Mexico City, while saying a battery deployment issue cost George Russell several positions at the start.

Antonelli ran the soft tyre beyond 40 laps in his opening stint, Shovlin said. The Lap 45 red flag erased that tyre advantage, but Antonelli restarted fourth, passed Charles Leclerc and took third to clinch the championship.

Russell had started second. The deployment issue left him trying to recover in traffic, Shovlin said. He added that contact with Isack Hadjar and the subsequent 10-second penalty made that task harder; Russell finished sixth.

“It’s frustrating because we didn’t give him the start to the race that he needed, and that is on us as a team,” Shovlin said. He said Mercedes would turn quickly to Brazil, with the constructors’ championship still to pursue alongside Antonelli’s drivers’ title.