Hamilton-Verstappen fight resulted in Russell left 'hung out to dry'

The British driver crossed the finish line in seventh, having lost a couple of places in the chaos involving Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at Turn 4, and later giving back a position to his teammate following a heated radio exchange with his race engineer.

“The opening laps did not go our way,” Lord said during the usual post-race debrief at the end of the Mexican GP weekend. “George was one of the only drivers in the top five to stay between the white lines, and lost out as a result, then was hung out to dry on lap six and lost two more positions.” 

“He felt rightly aggrieved at the outcome, as this ultimately shaped the outcome of his race. Kimi profited where George lost out and was managing his tyres to a planned one-stop strategy behind Bearman when George and Piastri closed to within DRS range.”

The British driver repeatedly asked the team to swap positions, which was initially denied before eventually being granted.

However, Russell couldn’t get past an in-form Oliver Bearman, who not only fended off his attacks but also those of Oscar Piastri, who finished fifth just ahead of the two Mercedes cars.

Lord finally added: "After several laps, we decided to invert the cars to give George an opportunity to attack the Haas, as he felt he had pace in hand, but he was unable to make inroads because the tyres were past their best after the laps in the dirty air.”

The Haas driver’s performance, of course, did not go unnoticed by Mercedes’ team representative, who took every opportunity to highlight the young English talent’s impressive defensive display—one that had him dreaming for long stretches of delivering a first podium for the American team.

Bearman, however, had to let go of that dream in favor of Max Verstappen, who in the closing stages closed in dangerously on Charles Leclerc, though his fight for second place was neutralized by a VSC deployment following Carlos Sainz’s late-race retirement.